To Defy Destiny
by blueavatar
Summary: The Fourth Shinobi World War had gone badly. After ten years, the allies' army is decimated and on the verge of defeat. Left with little other choice, Naruto and Hinata are sent back in time using an untested jutsu. Once there, they must use their abilities and knowledge to make sure that their dark future never comes to pass. Time Travel. AU. NarutoXHinata.
1. Chapter 1 – The Right Choice

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of its characters**

* * *

**Chapter 1: The Right Choice**

Ten years…it was hard for him to believe, but it had truly been a decade since the Fourth Shinobi World War had begun. The man leaned back against the trunk of a tree, lost in his memories as he watched the sunset.

He was a tall, athletically built young man with long, spiky, blond hair that framed his face, falling past the whisker shaped marks on his cheeks. His attire consisted of a standard, leaf green, flak jacket over a black shirt; simple blue trousers; and dark blue sandals. His Allied Shinobi Forces hitai-ate was worn over his forehead and across the left eye that even the regenerative powers of the Kyubi were unable to save after it had been gouged out during one of the more recent battles of the war, though his healing abilities had saved him from carrying any scars. It was a habit, he supposed, that he'd copied from his late teacher. Although he'd long since stopped wearing his Leaf hitai-ate out of respect for what the shinobi alliance had symbolized, he always carried it with him as a reminder of those who had first believed in him, and his of his love for a home that he had not seen in years. Over the rest of his attire, he wore a black haori with stylized orange flames across the bottom hem. A swirling whirlpool-like design was emblazoned in red across the back as homage to his maternal clan.

Partially concealed behind his cloak, strapped to his waist, was a pair of combat knives. They were masterfully crafted, among some of Tenten's finest creations. The black hilts had been made with practicality in mind as they were able to be held comfortably in either a normal or reversed hand grip. The blades themselves had wickedly sharp edges concealed within jet black scabbards, each of which was decorated with a detailed image of a fox hidden behind leaves. The material that made up the knives was specially treated to be stronger, more durable and able to channel chakra. The twin knives were the perfect tools to complement his destructive wind affinity and preference for close quarters combat.

_'If only I had been stronger,'_ thought Uzumaki Naruto, as he let out a deep sigh, _'none of this would have had to happen.'_

The war had gone…badly. Naruto and Killer B had entered the war against the wishes of the five Kages, turning the tide on multiple fronts of the battlefield. But momentum shifted against them and they were forced into a stalemate once they had come up against the masked man known as Uchiha Madara and the seven tailed beasts that he had already enslaved to his will. The pair had waged a desperate battle, but just when Naruto appeared to be gaining the upper hand by beginning to free the tailed beast and gain the Kyubi's trust, Madara played his trump card and revived the Juubi, the ten tailed beast, using only a fragment of the chakra from the eight and nine tails, along with the other seven. He then proceeded to immediately subjugate it, becoming its jinchuuriki. By the time anyone else from the army had arrived, Naruto and Killer B had already been defeated effortlessly, so outclassed that they hadn't even been able to put a scratch on the strange mask Madara always wore.

The combined might of the Allied Shinobi Forces had simply been blown away after Madara had become a jinchuuriki. In the end, the entire army had been forced to retreat from a single man. Everyone knew that someone would have to stay behind to hold Madara off long enough for the others to get away with the unconscious Naruto and B. In the end, it had been the five Kage who had stayed behind. Although they were soundly defeated, they had given their lives to buy enough time for the rest of their forces to escape.

The only consolation was that Madara had, for some reason, been unable to enact his plan and cast a genjutsu upon the moon. Shikamaru had surmised that, barring the possibilities that he had either been lying the entire time or had simply switched plans, his inability to cast the genjutsu was due to the fact that the Juubi was still incomplete without the full power of the Hachibi and Kyubi. From the intensity with which Madara still pursued the last two jinchuuriki to this day; it seemed that this was at least part of the explanation.

Naruto had secretly wished that he could simply kill himself to end such a large threat to the world, despite how he knew it would make his friends feel. However, since Kurama would simply be reborn somewhere else where he would be much easier to find and capture, Naruto had to fight back by evading capture and striking back whenever he could.

The years had not been kind to the allied forces. What had once been a powerful army of 80,000 warriors had been decimated to fewer than 2,000 in the years following Madara's ascension. Over the years, they'd suffered defeat after crushing defeat, constantly having to fall back and regroup. Constantly having to leave their brethren dead or dying on the battlefield. Constantly having to watch towns and villages burned to ash. Even though the allies were still united in their cause, that unity only amounted to so much. For while their army had been weakened, diminished and demoralized over the last decade, Madara's forces only seemed to grow stronger. Despite the loss of Kabuto, who the allies later learned had been defeated by Sasuke and a reincarnated Itachi, and nearly all of the White Zetsu, Madara still had a massive and powerful army to be reckoned with. He continued to produce White Zetsu through some unknown means, although never on the same scale as the beginning of the war. Furthermore, he had even managed to recruit ninja from some of the smaller hidden villages that were too terrified to resist him after his victory over the five great villages that composed the allied forces.

The allies had tried their best to keep going. They rebuilt their shattered chain of command, Naruto himself eventually rising to become the field commander of what was left of their army. The alliance harried Madara's forces, constantly staying mobile, while they engaged in guerilla tactics and sabotage to damage the villages and territories under his control. Unfortunately, this simply wasn't enough, and the allies continued to lose more ninja as time wore on.

These losses were what hurt Naruto the most. He had spent his entire life trying to be recognized and accepted by those around him. He had believed that if he pushed himself enough, believed in himself enough, he could achieve his dreams and protect those precious to him. The losses of Kakashi, Iruka, Sakura and so many others to the war had taught him otherwise. At this point, even though he would never admit it, he was starting to wonder if he would even be able to save any of those who were still left.

'_And now with Madara finally managing to find our base,'_ Naruto reflected wearily, _'it looks like the rest of us may have finally run out of time. I suppose we should be thankful that it's taken him this long.'_

After their disastrous defeat at the beginning of the war, they'd needed a refuge from which to organize their resistance efforts, as well as a place large enough to protect the civilians that had been evacuated before Madara destroyed the five great ninja villages. They'd decided on settling at Mount Myoboku, the home of the ninja toads, due to the fact that it was well hidden and at least a few weeks travel from any human settlements unless there was a toad summoner to facilitate travel.

Overall, the sanctuary had served its purpose well, becoming the only truly safe haven for the alliance. But such a secret can only remain hidden for so long, and it was only a matter of time until Madara discovered their whereabouts. It had taken his forces the better part of a year to navigate the uncharted lands around the mountain, once they had found the allies' approximate location. Now, however, the enemy forces were finally closing in, a few days away at most. The allies could try to run, and some would most certainly get away, but there was simply nowhere left to hide.

'_I wish we had more of a plan than what that old toad Fukasaku has cooked up, it's crazy and reckless, even for me,'_ he mused to himself, _'Shikamaru says that it may be the only choice we have left though. I wish you were still here Jiraiya-sensei, Father; you'd both know what to do…wouldn't you?'_

Despite the hopelessness and adversity of the situation he knew, deep down, that he would not give up. He _couldn't_ give up. There was still something worth fighting for.

As if on cue, Naruto sensed a presence to his right and smiled. _'Well at least there's still one good thing left in this world,'_ he thought as he turned towards his wife.

"Hey Hinata," Naruto said, his mood brightening, "what brings you here?"

Like Naruto, Uzumaki Hinata, had changed in appearance over the past 10 years. She also had an athletic build, though she was not as muscular as her husband. Her long, dark blue, hair still fell gracefully towards her waist, but her piercing white eyes, once so innocent, were now a little sad. She wore a light purple jacket, similar to the one she wore in her younger years, as well as dark blue pants and sandals.

Hinata gave a small, tired, smile as she walked over to stand beside him, laying her head on his shoulder as he put a comforting arm around her.

"I thought we could both use some company," She said in her usual soft tone, looking sadly to where his left eye was covered by his hitai-ate, "it's been a hard few weeks for both of us."

The years had caused a noticeable change in Hinata's personality as well. Although she was still soft-spoken, she now radiated an air of quiet confidence and strength that was in stark contrast to the innocent shyness she once possessed. In fact, though few would guess by looking at her, she had authority equal to her husband's as the commander of reconnaissance, infiltration and special operations for the allied forces. The war had left few unscathed, however, and like Naruto, there was always a touch of melancholy to her. Recently, though, she had become noticeably more downcast than before. It was little surprise, considering that she was now the last of the Hyuga clan.

A gentle wind swirled through the tall canopy of trees above them, rustling the leaves.

Naruto closed his eyes, as he leaned back once again "I was just taking some time to think" he admitted. "But you know I can always use your company," he added teasingly.

They stood there for a while, simply enjoying each other's company. Suddenly Naruto's sky blue eye turned red and his face grew feral.

"**While this is nauseatingly cute you two, don't we have a meeting to go to?"** A new voice barked from Naruto.

"Hello Kurama," Hinata said as she lifted her head, rolling her eyes, "as polite as always I see."

Naruto's features formed a fox-like grin. **"I am being polite; I haven't killed you yet, have I now?"** Kurama chuckled before Naruto's features faded back to normal.

"He knows I hate it when he does that without asking," Naruto said with a twinge of annoyance.

"I think that's why he does it," she responded, sighing. "Even though I'd love to stay here for the rest of the evening, he does have a point. Besides, he sort of ruined the moment."

Naruto nodded, "you'd think that becoming friends with us would have improved his attitude a bit more"

'_**Not in your dreams, runt,'**_ A voice rumbled within his mind, _**'now hurry up!'**_

"Stupid fox," Naruto muttered, rolling his eyes. Then, raising his voice, he said more loudly "let's go, Hinata."

She nodded and they started off to meet with the others.

* * *

As the couple walked in silence along the path they maintained a slow and measured pace, the soft grass crunching underfoot.

"So," Hinata began slowly as they neared the building in which they were to meet with the others, "are you still opposed to Shikamaru's recommendation? You know he's going to push it on us again, especially since this will be the last chance we will have to discuss the plan before we commit to it."

Naruto gave a curt nod. "Of course. You?"

Hinata hesitated. "You know how I feel. It's not that I'm against the plan itself, it's just…the cost is so high, and we aren't even sure if it will work…" she trailed off, "but it's not like I like your solution any more than his."

"I know, Hinata, God knows I wouldn't like my idea if our places were switched."

Hinata looked away, hiding the look of helplessness in her eyes.

Naruto could sympathize. Time and again, the blond-haired ninja had pulled off the impossible. He had become a legend because of it. But time travel? At best the idea was a desperate, farfetched hope, even for him. It wasn't that he didn't think it wasn't worth trying, however. In fact, both he and Hinata agreed that it might be their last and only, real hope, despite the seemingly impossible odds. It was only by luck two weeks ago that Fukasaku had uncovered a withered, dust-covered scroll lost deep within the toads' library that detailed how to perform the complex time travel technique. The problem was that the ancient jutsu that he had found required an immense amount of chakra. An entire tailed beast's store of chakra to be exact. This meant that giving the amount of chakra necessary to power the jutsu would be draining to the point that doing so would kill the tailed beast's jinchuuriki host. Even then, there would only be enough energy to send back two people at most, with little more than the clothes on their back, and that was only if it even worked in the first place. This chakra cost was the reason why it had never been successfully used.

This, in and of itself, wasn't a problem. Naruto was more than willing to make such a sacrifice for even the slightest chance of setting the world right. No, the problem was that Shikamaru had suggested sending Hinata and _him_ back, saying that their strength, skills, and abilities, especially when working together, would offer the best probability of success. But, if he agreed with Shikamaru, then the sacrifice would have to fall to Killer B, and that was something he could not bring himself to allow. Unfortunately for Naruto, neither B, nor Gyuki, the Hachibi, seemed to share this sentiment.

Although Hinata was not as close to B as Naruto, she also disliked the idea of their friend having to sacrifice himself to send the couple back in time. Unlike Naruto, however, she was also vehemently against the idea of her husband making the sacrifice. Still, she knew the sobering and inescapable truth: regardless of her feelings, one life had to be forfeit to power the time travel technique. Naruto knew that she was simply too compassionate, too kind, to advocate that either her friend or her love die for the sake of the other.

'_No,'_ Naruto mused to himself, _'there's no way I could ever agree if it was Hinata who had to be sacrificed.'_

"Still, you should know why this is necessary, why I have to be the one do this; I have to make up for my mistakes…no one else can die for me…"

"No!" She snapped, frustration and sadness flaring in equal measures, "I know why _A_ sacrifice is necessary. But if I have to watch you die right in front of me, it will _not_ be because of your misplaced sense of guilt!" Her voice lowered to a comforting whisper. "Our friend's deaths weren't your fault; _her_ death wasn't your fault. I don't blame you and neither did she. If you'd only open your eyes, both of your eyes, you'd see that you have nothing to atone for."

Naruto's shoulders sagged, "You're right, Hinata, I know that it's not really my fault, and believe me I don't want to die. Not yet. It's just that sometimes I…I just wish I could have saved them. And this," he paused, "this may actually be a real second chance to set things right. And I'd pay any price for that. I just want it to be me who pays that price and not another of my friends…"

"I know," she said softly. "I just need you to remember that you have nothing to atone for. We both know who's to blame for this."

It was a conversation they'd had several times before, each having been at one time or another the one trying to console the other. Each trying to lighten the other's burden when the deaths of so many friends and loved ones over the years weighed too heavily on their mind.

They finally reached the wood and stone meeting building and paused outside of it.

Naruto gave her a small smile, _'what would I possibly do without you?'_ he thought to himself. "I'll remember, Hinata," he promised. "For your sake."

As they turned to walk inside, Naruto slowly lifted his hitai-ate, revealing a white eye exactly like his wife's.

So quietly that he could just barely hear, he heard his wife whisper her sister's name.

* * *

Hinata followed Naruto towards the meeting room, barely paying attention to anything other than her own chaotic thoughts.

Despite the front she tried to put up for her husband, she was on the verge of breaking down. She had always known that it was possible for either of them to die any time, especially during the war, but it had always seemed a distant worry somehow. Now, however, her worst fear was staring her right in the face, and she wasn't sure how much longer she could handle it. Her sister's death a month ago had already shaken her to the core, and if she lost Naruto, she would fall apart. She simply wouldn't be able to survive losing him too.

Hinata knew that she was the only person who might be able to talk Naruto out of what he was trying to do, but, as much as she hated this situation, she couldn't bring herself to persuade him to change his mind. That was the worst part of all for her, the knowledge that she may be able to prevent his death, but that she wouldn't because she simply couldn't bring herself to be selfish enough to stop him from trying to save one of his closest friends.

And now, she knew she may have to pay the price.

"You're late," a bored voice drawled as they walked into the room, bringing her back to the present.

Nara Shikamaru, the chief strategist of what remained of their army sat at a large table consisting of Fukasaku and the two other members of the allied forces privy to their insane plan.

"We're very sorry Shikamaru-kun," Hinata said with a bow while Naruto stood looking slightly embarrassed.

Physically, the strategist had changed little over the ten years, though he looked much more like his father than before. However, mentally, he had grown a great deal, coming into his own as a leader with authority equal to both Naruto and Hinata's.

"It's fine," Shikamaru sighed as the latecomers took their seats, "we were just continuing the same discussion as before."

"Basically, we've agreed, _again_, that we should send you two back, even though the dobe won't stop complaining about it," Sasuke said nonchalantly as he turned his closed eyes to the pair

Uchiha Sasuke had, for better or worse, decided to defect from Madara's side (for reasons he still wouldn't confess) during the beginnings of the war. Though she had not trusted him at first, and probably never would be able to fully trust him again considering the amount of times he had tried to kill Naruto, Hinata had to admit that Sasuke had, if nothing else, proven himself a great asset to their cause. Defeating Kabuto and neutralizing his reincarnated army had most likely saved them from being utterly destroyed within months of their initial disastrous defeat. Further, he had been the one to bring Naruto and B to safety after they had been defeated by Madara. He had been forced to use Izanagi twice, sacrificing both of his eyes, to keep the two protected from Madara's initial attacks long enough for the Kages to begin to repulse him. Even without his treasured eyes, however, he was still a formidable fighter and still continued to take on various missions.

"Not the words I would've used, but the boy is right," croaked the elder toad, Fukasaku. "Besides Naruto-boy, you must remember that you are the child of destiny, and I believe the prophecy has not yet come to pass, you must not let your emotions cloud your view of the greater picture."

"Stop being a fool, It's not cool, Naruto!" Killer B rapped.

Of the five ninja present in the room, B had seemingly changed the least over the years. He was, in many ways, still the same boisterous, muscular and accomplished warrior with the aggravating hobby of creating bad rap lyrics. Still, to those who knew him well, like her husband, there were times when his personality would shift slightly and one could get a brief glimpse of his all-consuming anger and desire to bring the man who slaughtered his brother and students to justice.

"No," Naruto stated simply, already exasperated from a week of having the same debate. "I've already told you hundreds of times that I will not agree to this. Isn't it enough that I have to abandon our army right before our last stand, because this is our only real hope left? Do you really expect me to let someone else die for me too?! And B," Naruto added, frustrated, "how can you treat your own death so casually?! This isn't something to rap about! It isn't a joke!"

"I can treat my death casually for the same reason you can, Naruto," B said with an uncharacteristically quiet voice, "Because, like you, I would do anything for a chance to save all the friends I've lost."

"Besides," Sasuke interjected, "if this really does somehow manage to work, B won't actually die. Or at least the past version of him won't."

"Then why can't you let me be the one to take that risk?!" Naruto questioned.

"Calm down Naruto, this is our last meeting and we don't have the time for this fight anymore," Shikamaru said tiredly. "I've already explained this to you. This decision isn't about who lives and who dies or even about our army anymore. You have to understand that time travel is very…troublesome. I can only make basic, short term, plans of what to do for whoever goes back. There are simply too many effects the slightest action could have on history for me to account for all the variables," he paused for a moment. "You two are among the strongest ninja we have, especially when working together. Honestly, with your ability to turn impossible situations into victories and with Hinata there to help you and to keep you from doing anything stupid, I think you two are the last, best chance we have. The war is lost. We're due to be attacked any day now all that's left is to make our last stand. You know that if I didn't think this was our only real chance, I wouldn't suggest we send two of our best commanders away right when we needed them the most."

Naruto was silent for a moment. "I'm sorry Shikamaru…I just…I just can't," he whispered.

"And you, Kurama," he said, still looking at Naruto, "Do you have anything to add?"

Naruto gave a wild grin. **"While I'd rather not deal with the inconvenience the pup's death would cause, I'd never hear the end of it if I stopped him. Besides, I can't leave this to Gyuki."** He said with amusement,** "Who knows if that weakling even has enough chakra to power the jutsu without nine tails?"**

Shikamaru sighed, "Hinata? What about you? You haven't spoken at all yet."

Hinata looked down. This was it. The moment she'd been dreading. Her last chance to try and save her husband's life.

_'Forgive me,'_ she thought as she looked up, barely holding back tears. "I see your point Shikamaru-kun, and you may even be right, but…" she hesitated, "In this, I cannot side with you," she finally whispered.

There was a pause for a moment as the finality of their decision weighed on those present within the room.

"I suppose I never really did expect you to agree," Shikamaru said with uncharacteristic sadness, as he folded his hands in his lap. "You both always did put others before yourselves, especially your friends, maybe that's why I think you'll do so well."

Suddenly, Naruto and Hinata froze, unable to move.

Hinata's eyes widened with realization. _'Shikamaru and the others already made their decision,'_ she thought frantically. _'They weren't planning on letting Naruto actually go through with being the power source for the jutsu, this was just a last attempt to get us to agree willingly!'_

"Shadow possession complete," Shikamaru said smoothly, raising his hands back into view.

* * *

'_Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit!'_ Naruto thought his teeth gritted, desperately trying to regain control.

"Dammit Shikamaru, what the hell do you think you're doing?!" Naruto roared.

"Making the right choice," Shikamaru said nonchalantly, as he walked away from the table, Naruto and Hinata unwillingly mirroring his movements.

Naruto's body flared with yellow energy as his chakra cloak formed around him.

Before Naruto could attempt to break free, however, Fukasaku quickly flashed through some hand signs.

"Doton: Swamp of the Underworld," the old toad stated quietly, sinking Naruto and Hinata into the floor.

Killer B then sprouted several octopus tentacles, wrapping them around the two and trapping them even further, while Sasuke simply stood by, ready to act if they made even the least bit of headway in freeing themselves.

Naruto looked over and saw that Hinata was having as much trouble trying to get out as he was.

"Have all of you gone crazy?!" Naruto shouted, still trying to break free.

"No," Sasuke stated calmly, "we're just making sure that we take best chance we have to prevent this nightmare."

Fukasaku quickly began placing seals around the floor in a complicated design. "I'm sorry it's come to this, Naruto-boy, but we can't afford to let you have your way, he said with a hint of regret as he began a complicated series of hand signs. "Not this time."

B began to glow, and then purple chakra shot from him and began to swirl around Hinata and Naruto.

Shikamaru and B released their hold on the pair, but they were still trapped within jutsu Fukasaku was performing.

"Shikamaru-kun," Hinata said softly, as she ceased her now pointless struggling to look into his eyes. "To force us to be the ones to do this, to save our lives instead of another's…do you really believe in us that much?"

"I do," Shikamaru responded, without a hint of doubt in his voice, "For what it's worth, I'm sorry we had to take this choice out of your hands."

'_**I hate to say it, pup, but I think we may be taking this trip after all,**__'_ Kurama growled in Naruto's mind.

Naruto released his chakra cloak and slumped, defeated. He had been prepared to make one last sacrifice to save one his friends and here he was, forced to let one of them die instead.

"I may be blind, but I still know that look on your face, dobe," Sasuke said sternly. "This is not you failing to save a friend; this is your friends forcing you to be smart for once. Anyway," he added, "like I've already said, if this works out then none of us have to die."

Naruto looked towards Sasuke. "I don't agree with this Sasuke, but…I understand,"

B glowed brighter and brighter, flaring like a miniature sun. The amount of chakra being released was incredible.

"I'm getting close to the end of the jutsu, if you have any last pieces of advice, now's the time," Fukasaku announced gruffly. "First, I have warning for you three: I am not completely certain exactly what state Naruto and Hinata will be in when they return to the past. However, based upon my research I believe that you will most likely be separate entities from your past selves with all of your abilities intact, except, perhaps for your summoning contracts, which you may have to re-obtain. As for the Kyubi, he will most likely survive the trip, but beyond that, I cannot say what affects this jutsu will have upon a tailed beast, since it was never designed with one in mind. As for my advice, all I have to say is this: remember the prophecy, Naruto, remember that you can still change this world for the better!"

Shikamaru stepped forward resolutely.

"There's little I can suggest for you to do," Shikamaru, began. "Like I said, this situation is troublesome. Fukasaku is sending you back to a bit before the Chunin Exams, since that was when things began to fall apart. You should start by talking to the Third and asking him for help. Remember that since we never did see Madara try to perform that ridiculous genjutsu, we still don't know if that really was his ultimate goal or if he was just lying and had something completely different up his sleeve, but it doesn't really matter. Either way, the keys to his plan are the nine jinchuuriki, including Naruto, if you can find a way to protect them from Madara, you should be able to stop his plans."

Naruto and Hinata nodded in acknowledgement, each with a look of determination on their face.

Sasuke turned his sightless gaze towards Naruto, and for a moment, he felt like he could once again see his rival's piercing red eyes. It was not in Sasuke's nature to ask for help, but Naruto understood. He would do his best to stop Sasuke from making the same mistakes again. He wouldn't let him run off to Orochimaru or kill his brother.

"If I can, I will," Naruto said solemnly.

Sasuke nodded. "…Thank you," he said after some hesitation.

Naruto turned his head towards B. The muscular ninja was floating ten meters off the ground, surrounded by a nearly blinding corona of purple light. Naruto could see that he was beginning to pale and weaken.

"B…I'm sorry," he whispered guiltily.

"D-Don't be wack! Just make it b-back!" Killer B rapped, his voice hoarse and cracking with effort. "And be sure you two kill that b-bastard and save the Cloud for m-me and Hachibi!"

"Don't doubt it," Naruto said with a slight grin.

B's grin deepened as the light faded from his eyes and his face went slack. Shikamaru caught his body as it fell towards the ground.

As if on cue, the last of the chakra drained from B's body and came to surround them. The chakra began to swirl faster and faster, until Naruto was unable to make out anything beyond the powerful torrent of energy.

Naruto grasped Hinata's hand and looked towards her.

As he looked deep into her eyes he knew they were thinking the same thing: they may not have chosen this path, but they would not fail and they would never give up. After all, now they had everything to fight for.

The torrent of chakra began to rage and howl, louder and louder, until suddenly the sounds ceased and everything faded to black.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

Well here's the first chapter of my first story, hope you all enjoyed it!

Also, please feel free to review and comment with what you think!


	2. Chapter 2 – The Arrival

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of its characters**

* * *

**Chapter 2: The Arrival**

'_What a weird dream…'_ Hinata thought blearily as she began to regain consciousness. She stretched out in the grass, trying to wake herself up.

'_Grass? That's odd…'_

She slowly opened her eyes and what she saw jolted her back to full awareness. Rather than the bedroom she'd been expecting, she was in the middle of a dense forest.

'_Wait…the jutsu!'_ she thought, scrambling to her feet as her most recent memories surged to the forefront of her mind, _'did it work? It definitely did something…'_

Just then, she noticed Naruto beside her, still asleep. She knelt next to him and tried to wake him.

"Naruto? Naruto! Wake up!" she insisted as she shook him.

"Hrm…Hinata? What is it?" He asked groggily.

"I think…I think it may have worked."

"Huh? What wor-" He stopped mid-sentence as his eyes shot open. "Where are we? Are we back?" He demanded, jumping to his feet.

"I'm not sure yet, but if it did actually work we should be somewhere near Konoha…" she gazed up at the blue sky overhead. "Let's check," she said.

She quickly stood up and began to jump to the tops of the trees, Naruto close behind her.

'_Please be here, please be here, please be here!'_ thought Hinata desperately.

She burst through the canopy and began to look around for her former home.

Hinata froze.

"I can't believe it…" Naruto whispered as he came up beside her.

There in the distance, no more than a few kilometers away, was the Hidden Leaf Village, completely intact.

"The monument," she whispered, as her eyes began to water, "Tsunade-sama's face isn't there…"

"It worked!" Naruto exclaimed, pulling her into a hug. "Thank god…it worked…" he choked out.

Hinata was at a loss for words. She had hoped that their plan would succeed, but until now, she honestly thought it was little more than a desperate fantasy.

"We can save them," she sobbed, gripping her husband, "Our home, our friends…we can save them, we can change things this time…"

They stayed that way for few minutes, too stunned to do more than hold on to each other and pray that is wasn't all just a dream.

Hinata wiped her eyes, smiling as they pulled apart, truly hopeful for the first time in years.

"Let's get down from here, the last thing we need is to get spotted now."

"Good idea," Naruto nodded.

They jumped down from the treetops and settled into the shadow of a large oak.

"So," Hinata began, "what now?"

Naruto leaned against the tree in thought. "I think we should follow Shikamaru's suggestion," he said. "We need to find at least one other person to help us and the old man's probably our best bet."

"Agreed, but still, there's the matter of getting into the village itself," she paused, "we could probably sneak past the patrols closer to the village and at the gate, but I'm not sure about reaching the Hokage himself. He's sure to have at least a few guards besides the ones we saw and they're bound to be far from incompetent. While I'm sure we could incapacitate them, I doubt that acting like assassins would do much to help us make our case."

"You're right; we need to find a way to get a private audience somehow. We also need to figure out exactly when we were sent to. We may be back in the past, but that's no guarantee that we're exactly where Fukasaku aimed to send us."

"That's a good point too…" She hesitated, "The biggest problem, though, is our appearance. I doubt anyone would be able to connect us to our past selves; it's just too unrealistic to be believable, even if it is the truth. Still, you look too much like your father, and I look too much like a Hyuga for us to be able to simply ignore it. Most importantly…our eyes, Naruto; we have to hide our eyes. If my father even suspected that the Hyuga's Byakugan had been obtained by anyone outside the clan, he would be furious. And as far as he knows, we're both outside of the clan."

Naruto was silent after she finished.

"Why does everything have to be so difficult?" He sighed, "at least my mother's clan isn't in Konoha to complicate things as well." Naruto paused, "wait, that's it…"

Hinata looked at him quizzically, "What do you mean?"

"My mother's clan, the Uzumaki, they were one of the most prominent clans of Uzushiogakure in the land of whirlpools. The village was destroyed in the Third Shinobi World War, but the village, especially the Uzumaki, had always had close ties to Konoha. If we say that we were survivors from the village that have come to join the Leaf, it should be enough of an excuse to at least get to see the old man. It would also explain why two, unknown, highly trained ninja would suddenly want to join the Leaf instead of another village."

"That's…perfect actually," Hinata smiled. "I hadn't considered that type of approach, though we will have to be careful when anyone asks what we did during the time between the village's destruction and now. Also, only you should be a hereditary member of the clan. Even though it doesn't affect what we're trying to do, I'd rather our story include the fact that we're married instead of siblings or relatives." She sighed. "Still, there's the matter of actually disguising our appearance. A simple transformation would be too unreliable."

"Actually, I have a solution to that problem as well," Naruto added with pride.

"You don't mean…you actually managed to create that seal?"

Naruto chuckled, pushing himself off of the tree trunk. "I finished it a few weeks ago, but we were so busy with this mess that I never had a chance to tell you. Are you really that surprised? You were the one who asked me to create it for your infiltration teams after all."

Hinata laughed, "Fair enough. Regardless, it's impressive, especially considering you never had much formal training in fuinjutsu in the first place. How effective is it?"

Naruto shrugged, "Effective enough, I'd say it's pretty much on par with whatever it was that granny Tsunade did. As far as I know, it's virtually undetectable, will stay active even without conscious effort, and will still work while we're asleep. There are three main problems though. First, it will constantly feed of your chakra to keep active. Not that much, at least, not for ninja of our level, but it would still be a disadvantage in battle. Also, that means that if you don't have enough energy to sustain it, the transformation will fade. Second, you're limited to only one appearance, so you'd have to remove and reapply the seal to change how you look. Last, the seal will still be visible even during the transformation, though since I invented it, no one will know what its purpose is." He paused. "Also, there's one more thing. It wouldn't normally be too much of an issue, but the actual creation of the seal is draining, so it'd be dangerous to do in the field."

"I see," Hinata said, nodding. "Still, even with those drawbacks, that seal should be more than enough." She thought for a moment, recognizing a potential problem. "We do have to test it though. If I can see through it with my Byakugan it may make things more difficult."

Naruto nodded, "You're right. I guess I didn't have to take the Byakugan into account while I was working on it since your entire clan fought with us. Let's test it before we go any further then."

He took a deep breath before beginning a series of hand seals. After about a minute, he finished and his right hand began to glow.

"Metamorphosis," he whispered as he pressed his hand into his left shoulder. An elaborate circular design began to form, spiraling out from where his palm met his shoulder. The shape shined brightly just as it was completed. After the light faded, it looked like nothing more significant than an intricate tattoo.

"Here we go," Naruto said, grinning at her.

There was an explosion of smoke, but it was much larger and more powerful than the one that accompanied a normal transformation. When the smoke cleared, a new man was in the place of her husband, still wearing the same grin Naruto had seconds earlier.

While his clothing was the same, his physical appearance was completely different. The whisker marks that were on his cheeks were now non-existent. His face was slightly different structurally and was a bit more angular and had more softness to it than Naruto had originally had. The most apparent change, however, was his hair. He had straight crimson hair that hung down just past his shoulders. The only thing consistent with his original appearance, she noticed, were the striking blue eyes that always reminded her of a clear summer day, though now he had two instead of one.

"So, what do you think?" Naruto asked in a new voice that she'd never heard before.

"Well," she smirked, "you look handsome. Not as good as the original, of course, but I think I can learn to live with it."

Naruto laughed, though the sound had an edge of fatigue to it. "I'm glad you approve. Can you take a look?"

"Of course, just a second," Hinata said as she made a hand seal. "Byakugan."

Her range of vision increased exponentially, expanding outwards for miles in every direction. She took some time to steady herself against the sense of vertigo and strangeness that accompanied the activation of her eyes before focusing on Naruto.

"You're…it's hard to describe. I can't see through your transformation like I would be able to normally, but…when I focus intently on you, you become blurry, but only slightly." She paused for a moment. "Considering how proficient I've become with these eyes, I doubt most of my clan would even be capable of noticing it, no matter how hard they tried. Still…" She turned towards the direction of the village, "though I doubt they'd activate their eyes within the village just to study us, be careful of the stronger members of my clan. My father, Neji nii-san and maybe a handful of my other relatives…they may be able to see through our disguise. There's no way they'd guess the truth, but still, I'd rather them not become suspicious of us."

"I guess that's not too surprising," Naruto said, face pensive, "do you think it's worth the risk?"

"It's not perfect, but in a village filled with Hyuga, it's the best anyone could ask for, so I do think it's worth it. Besides, it's not as if we have much of a choice."

"Good point. Well then," he added, becoming excited, "that means it's your turn."

"What do I do?" She questioned.

"Imagine what you want your appearance to look like and how you want to sound, just like you would when performing a normal transformation, and keep the image firmly at the front of your mind as I apply the seal. After it's applied, you simply will it to activate by channeling chakra to the seal and having conscious desire to switch to your alternate appearance. You deactivate it the same way."

Hinata thought for a minute, deciding on an appearance that she thought would be appropriate.

"Ready," She said.

Naruto nodded before beginning the same set of hand seals he had used before. Once he finished, his hand began to glow again.

"Metamorphosis," he murmured again as he placed his hand to her left shoulder.

Immediately she felt an odd sensation. She felt as if her body had somehow become water. Constantly flowing and moving, never staying in exactly the same shape for more than an instant. It wasn't an unpleasant feeling, it was just…odd. And then the feeling suddenly ceased and as she looked at her shoulder she saw a design identical to her husband's.

Naruto began to rock on his heels, steadying himself against the next to him with one arm. He seemed utterly exhausted.

"Are you okay?" She asked him cautiously.

"Yeah…Yeah, I'll be fine. Like I said, the seal is tiring to create."

'_Tiring is an understatement,'_ Hinata mused as she looked him over, taking in his weary appearance and ragged breathing, _'he looks about ready to fall over!'_

After a few moments, Naruto had managed to catch his breath. "Well don't keep me waiting," he said, beaming, "let me see!"

'_That boy…'_ she thought, rolling her eyes inwardly. _'You'd think he'd have learned to be at least a little more worried about himself in these sorts of situations!'_

Sighing inwardly, Hinata began her transformation.

Around her there was a large explosion of smoke through which she couldn't see.

As the smoke cleared, she found Naruto staring at her.

"Well, how do I look?" she asked nervously, not missing that her voice had changed to how she had imagined it as well.

He seemed to fumble for something to say. "Gorgeous…" he whispered, "but not as good as you normally look, I was just caught off guard!" he added hurriedly.

Hinata turned slightly red.

She held her hair in front of her eyes. It was silver, just as she'd imagined it before he'd placed the seal on her. Her skin, she noticed, was a bit darker than it was before, as if it had been tanned slightly.

She took a kunai out of her tool pouch and caught a reflection of the rest of her appearance. Her face, like her Naruto's, had become slightly more angular. Her eyes, however, were quite different. They were no longer stark white, and now had visible irises of a deep violet color.

After a moment she smiled.

"Well, I'm glad you like it." Hinata said as she put her kunai away and pulled out a piece of multipurpose thread, using it to tie her hair back into a ponytail.

"Now that our disguises are taken care of, is there anything else we need to do before we go to the village?"

She considered it, but couldn't think of anything else. "I think we should be fine," she said, "It's a good thing we changed the design of those flak jackets, otherwise you'd have had to get rid of that. Though the headbands still have to go," she reminded him as she took off her hitai-ate and stored it into her pouch.

"Thanks for reminding me," Naruto said, doing the same with his own forehead protector. "When we get there, I'm sure the old man will give us an audience. He always was willing to hear people out and he's not about to turn down new ninja. Still, there's no way that he's ever left alone with strangers or that anyone will blindly believe we're really who we say we are…which we aren't. I'm guessing he always has two or three ANBU somewhere in addition to the regular guards, just in case. Can you take care of them while I seal the room?"

Hinata raised an eyebrow. "You do remember who you're talking to, right?" She teased with a smirk.

Naruto laughed, "You know what I mean. Besides, it's not like I could do it…not quietly at least…"

Hinata chuckled as well, "I know, Naruto. You have many strong points, but subtlety has never been one of them."

"Well," He began, "We should probably make our way over to the—"He stopped, abruptly staring off into space.

"Naruto? Naruto!" Hinata said, waving her hand in front of his face.

He sighed, "Sorry about that. It looks like we have a problem."

"A problem?"

"He can explain it better than I can." After Naruto finished, his transformed face took on animalistic features as his eye's turned red.

"**Girl,"** A familiar voice growled.

"Kurama. What's wrong?"

"**My power..."** He paused, **"it's…gone."**

Hinata froze, eyes narrowing "gone?" she questioned, quietly.

"**Yes. Like the toad warned, the jutsu has had a…effect on me. I've been attempting to gather my power since before you regained consciousness, but it seems that this trip has drained me somehow…I cannot give Naruto any power right now, nor can I regenerate my own."**

'_Perfect,'_ she thought, _'another problem. Naruto is powerful in his own right, but without Kurama to help right now, countering Madara is going to be much more difficult.'_

"You don't have any good news I'm guessing?"

"**There is one thing. Like I told the runt, my power should come back gradually in time."**

"How much time?" She asked.

Kurama looked away **"…Months? Years? I cannot be sure. All I know is that it will be a long time before I can grant Naruto the level of power I could before. Until then, I will do what I can. Please try to not get killed while I recover, I've just begun to tolerate you two slightly more than other humans."**

With that, Kurama was gone and Naruto's face returned to normal.

Hinata sighed, "Damnit…"

"Yeah, this is definitely going to make things harder," Naruto replied. "Still, there's not much we can do about it, so it's probably better to just not worry."

"You're right," Hinata agreed, though she was still concerned. "Let's just focus on what we can do right now."

"That's my girl!" Naruto grinned, though it didn't seem quite as confident as it normally would.

Hinata laughed, her apprehension melting away just a bit, _'Everything will be fine, as long as we're together.'_

"Let's go," she said, motioning towards the village.

Naruto nodded, and with that, they were off.

* * *

Naruto walked down the main street of the village, captivated by sights he'd never expected to see again.

'_Well, that was easier than I'd expected it to be,'_ he thought.

Kotetsu and Izumo had been surprisingly willing to let them into the village. They'd simply sent a messenger to the Hokage tower and told them to go there to await an audience.

'_I guess this is what it means to live in peace. I'd almost forgotten…'_

He looked over to his side. Hinata seemed just as out of place as he was.

"It's been so long it surprises me," he whispered.

"I feel the same, but...It's nice," she said smiling.

Naruto smiled as well. He couldn't disagree; it had been a long time since he had felt such a sense of solace.

"HEY! GET BACK HERE!" someone shouted.

"You'll never catch me!" a child shouted back.

Naruto looked towards the commotion.

Hinata laughed next to him, "It can't be…"

"It is," Naruto said, facepalming.

Running through the street right towards them was a young boy with bright blond hair, carrying a bucket of paint and a brush.

He ran past them laughing happily as he was chased by a pair of older ninja.

"I guess we know when we got sent back to now…" Naruto said, embarrassed.

"I'm impressed you haven't gotten caught by those two yet."

"Well," he chuckled, "I did have a lot of practice at pulling those pranks off. That one was definitely one of my favorites though."

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING NARUTO?!" a familiar voice yelled.

"Until that part," Naruto sighed.

"Was that Iruka-sensei?" She asked.

"Yeah, he was usually the one who caught me. He always seemed to know where I was somehow…" Naruto trailed off.

Just then, they arrived at the Hokage tower.

"It's just like I remembered it. Feels like old times," Hinata said, "Are you ready?"

"As much as I'll ever be. If nothing else, it'll be good to see the old man again," Naruto said.

He walked inside, Hinata right beside him.

* * *

'_Honestly,'_ Sarutobi thought, sighing, _'sometimes I wonder if I spend more time filling out paperwork than actually watching over my village.'_

The Third Hokage lit his pipe once again as he sat back in his chair.

'_And today would have had such a light load, too, if Naruto hadn't decided to vandalize an entire mountain,'_ he thought, becoming annoyed. _'What am I going to do with that boy? I know he wants attention, but right now all he's doing is wasting his potential.'_

"Hokage-sama," a man said, opening the door to the room, "The two ninja from whirlpool have arrived."

"Thank you, Genma, please send them in."

"Yes sir!" Genma replied.

'_Well,'_ he thought, _'at least this will be a welcome diversion. It's been sometime since I've met anyone from Uzushiogakure, and even longer since any asked to join our ranks. And an Uzumaki…perhaps I should introduce them to Naruto if nothing else.'_

As he contemplated this development, two individuals (a couple he recalled), entered the room.

The man was striking. Sarutobi did not miss the characteristic red hair of the Uzumaki clan, as well as his piercing blue eyes. He wore a black cloak that seemed strangely similar to the one Sarutobi's successor had worn, though that couldn't be anything more than a coincidence. Strangely, however, the man's entire demeanor, while powerful, seemed to also hold a hint of playful mischievousness about him. He couldn't quite put his finger on why, but it somehow reminded him of another red haired Uzumaki that he hadn't thought about in a long time.

The woman, on the other hand, seemed to complement him perfectly. She had flowing, silver, hair and glowing violet eyes. She was more graceful than he was, but the Hokage had no doubt that she was his equal in strength and ability.

Both of them exuded a quiet sense of power and confidence. Furthermore, though he doubted many would be able to notice it, both of those in front of him had the unmistakable bearing of one who was experienced. Not just in training or fighting, but in war as well. These were individuals who knew the true meaning of loss and sacrifice. However, Sarutobi had seen veterans of the Third War who seemed to carry less of a weight on their shoulders than the two before him and he wondered what, exactly, they had experienced to make them this way in a time of peace.

Oddest of all, the Hokage noted, was how they looked at him. Though he only saw their reactions for a second before they were hidden, for some reason both looked as if they had seen a ghost.

"Uzumaki Sora and Uzumaki Naomi, correct? I am Sarutobi Hiruzen, the Third Hokage. I must say, it is a pleasure to see survivors of your clan alive and well. It has been quite some time since I've had the chance to meet with one of you."

Sora and Naomi bowed to him.

"It's a pleasure to speak to you as well, though…not one I'd have ever expected to have," Sora said.

"So," the Hokage replied, moving past the oddity of his statement, "what brings you to Konoha? From what I understand, you wanted to join us?"

"That and…another reason," he said.

He looked towards his companion, Naomi, and she nodded at him.

"Sorry, Hokage-sama, but we need to speak with you privately," she said.

Immediately, the woman began to move. The veins around the woman's eyes bulged out and she began performing a series of hand seals. It happened so quickly that Sarutobi couldn't react in time to stop them. As the woman finished, the Hokage felt a wave of power flow throughout the room. Just as she finished, the man threw a set of tags around the room, one for each of the four cardinal directions.

He waited a few seconds, and then puffed one last time on his pipe before putting it down. "Fuinjutsu, eh?" he asked. "It appears to be quite skillfully done. I take it no one can hear or see us in here?"

The man inclined his head. "You are correct."

"Well, considering that no one has come rushing in here, it looks like you've managed put three of my ANBU members, in addition to my normal guards, under a genjutsu just long enough to seal the room, but not long enough for them to notice it. I must say, I'm impressed," he said as he rose unhurriedly from his chair.

At this comment, the woman smirked. "Well, I did have an excellent teacher," she said.

"I don't doubt that; it's rare to find a genjutsu master of such talent." He paused, "You know, it's been quite some time since I've had an attempt on my life. I do wish you'd come some other time, though, I've had a long few hours," he sighed. "Well let's get on with it, I don't have all day."

At this, the two strangers shared a look. Then the man burst into laughter.

"What are you laughing at?" Sarutobi asked, confused. Of all the actions he could imagine of an assassin facing a Kage level opponent, laughing seemed the least likely of all of them.

Sora grinned. "Now that you've mentioned it, I do wonder how well I'd match up to you. However, if we wanted to kill you, do you really think we'd walk into your office in broad daylight to do it?"

Sarutobi narrowed his eyes. "Is there any other reason a random stranger would have for putting a seal on my office so my guards don't come rushing in?"

"He has a point," Naomi said, shrugging, "so much for trying not to look like assassins."

"I guess you're right," he replied to her. "We should probably just show him."

"Show me what? What are you talking about?" Sarutobi asked.

To this, Sora just smiled. Then there was a burst of smoke and two new people were standing in front of him.

"No…it can't be…" the Hokage whispered. He paused, his thoughts in complete disarray "…Minato?" he asked, unable to hide his shock.

After his initial surprise, Sarutobi brought himself to focus on the woman standing next to this man, finally noticing her stark white eyes. "…And are you a Hyuga? What is the meaning of this?"

The strange man, for the Hokage was now certain that Sora was not his true name, looked away. "Well you have one of us right, old man, she is a Hyuga, but no, I am not my father."

The Hokage frowned at the way he was addressed, trying to mask his confusion. "Father? Do you really expect me to believe that Minato had a son?"

The man turned back towards him, grinning. "Of course old man, you did take care of me for the first twelve years of my life after all. I'm Naruto and this," he said, placing his hand on the woman's shoulder, "Is Hinata."

The Hokage narrowed his eyes once again, not bothering to hide his skepticism. He did see the resemblance. Indeed, the man looked much like what Sarutobi would have imagined Naruto to look within the next 15 years or so. However, ignoring the fact that this man also had what appeared to be a Byakugan for one eye, he was obviously not the same 12 year old that he constantly had to look after. Furthermore, though he claimed his companion was the Hyuga heiress, she, too, was obviously not the same, shy, 12 year old girl he had come to know. _'Still,'_ he thought, _'for this man to know that Naruto is Minato's son…or perhaps he's just making assumptions based on their similar appearances and is fishing for confirmation?'_

"Do you really expect me to believe that two twelve year olds from my village lied to get an audience with me, placed a genjutsu on all of my guards, and managed to seal this room? Without even the slightest bit of trouble?" Sarutobi asked dryly.

"Not exactly…" the man said, looking away again.

"He is Naruto and I am Hinata," the woman chimed in, "but…not the ones that you know. It may sound ridiculous, but…we're from the future," she said, almost sounding as if she herself was unsure of the truth of what she was saying.

The Hokage's first thought was to simply scoff at them and ask for the truth, but…for some reason he couldn't do that just yet. He had seen and heard strange things in his life before, though this was without a doubt the most far-fetched. However, if what the woman said was true, then everything that they were saying, all of the inconsistencies, would make sense.

"Why should I believe you?" He hazarded, ignoring the absurdity of even considering their claim.

Suddenly, the man's face changed, contorting into a feral snarl, **"Because, Hiruzen,"** a new voice spoke, **"if you don't believe them, your precious village will burn."**

The Hokage froze._ 'This presence'_ he thought to himself, _'no genjutsu or ninjutsu would be able to mimic it so perfectly…'_

"You're the Kyubi…" he stated, taking a step back from the possessed man. "So…that really must be Naruto…" Then a terrible thought occurred to him. "And now you're possessing him?! How did you manage to break the seal?!"

At this accusation, the demon just scoffed, **"Please,"** he said, rolling his eyes, **"The brat himself unlocked that seal a decade ago."** He turned his head towards Hinata,** "I've proven your identities so I'm done talking with this fool, you two can finish dealing with him."**

With that, the man, who the Hokage now had no choice but to admit was Naruto, returned to normal.

"Sorry," Naruto apologized, "Kurama does that sometimes."

At this point, the Hokage could honestly say that he had never been more confused and dumbfounded in his entire life.

"I believe you," he murmured, slumping back into his chair.

"You…you do?" Naruto asked, blinking in surprise. "Even we will admit that this all sounds pretty impossible."

"Yes, well, impossible or not, there's little other choice considering that the last I heard, the Kyubi was still locked behind his seal and his jinchuuriki was busy running around vandalizing monuments." The Hokage sighed, "I'd rather you'd simply been assassins, it would have been easier. So tell me, why have you two come back, Naruto, Hinata? I didn't even know such a thing was possible."

The two before him instantly took on the appearance of individuals who were very old and very tired, and from seeing their faces Sarutobi could tell that they had gone through worse than even the survivors of the Third War.

Naruto sighed heavily, "War, old man," he whispered. "A war that razed the entire world to the ground."

For a moment Sarutobi was silent; thinking while the implications of what Naruto said dawned on him. "Why?" he asked, "What happened?"

Naruto simply covered his eyes with his hand, growing a bitter smile. "Why? To feed the ambitions of a single madman," he said, letting out a sad laugh. "So many dead, and in the end, all we did was slow him down…" As he lowered his hand, the Hokage both sadness and rage in his expression.

"You've heard of Akatsuki?" Hinata asked as she looked towards Naruto, laying a hand on his shoulder.

"Scattered reports, mostly from Jiraiya and…" he trailed off.

"We know the truth about Itachi," Naruto supplied.

"I suppose I shouldn't be surprised," the Hokage replied. "But yes, I've received reports from Jiraiya and the occasional correspondence from Itachi, but other than their major objective I know little about the organization. Why? What do they have to do with this?"

"They're the cause," Hinata said sadly, looking back towards the Hokage. "Their leader is Uchiha Madara, and he was winner of the Fourth Shinobi World War."

"Madara?" Sarutobi asked, frowning, "He's still alive? I knew he was strong, but to challenge our entire village and win…"

"Not just our village," Naruto said. "All five of the great villages joined together to fight him."

"All five?!" The Hokage exclaimed, astounded that the formation such an alliance, as well as its defeat, could occur only a few years into the future. "How could he possibly have defeated the power of all of the villages combined?"

This time Hinata answered. "He couldn't normally. Though we'd killed most of the members of Akatsuki by then, they'd still managed to capture the first seven of the tailed beasts. They'd also managed to obtain portions of the chakra from the Eight and Nine-Tails. Somehow Madara was able to combine them to recreate the Ten-Tails and become its jinchuuriki, effectively becoming a second Sage of the Six Paths."

"He claimed his goal was to use all of this power to cast a genjutsu on the entire world," Naruto continued. "For some reason though, he was never actually able to do it. Unless he changed his mind or was just lying the entire time, we think it must have had something to do with him being incomplete because he lacked the Eight and Nine-Tails themselves. Either way, for the last ten years our army struggled to fight back and find some way to defeat him…but we never could. Sending us back in time was the best chance we've had since the war first went downhill."

'_Ten years?'_ The Hokage thought to himself sadly, _'I became Hokage to protect these children from the horrors of war. It seems that I have failed them terribly on that account.'_

"Uchiha Madara, the Sage of the Six Paths, the Ten-Tails." Sarutobi whispered, "This all sounds so impossible, but…it's true isn't it?"

Naruto and Hinata both nodded.

"How long do we have?" he asked.

"Thankfully, Akatsuki didn't begin to move in earnest until a couple of years from now in our time, and even then it was still quite a while before the war itself broke out, so we'll be able to prepare," Hinata answered. "However, there are still other problems and dangers which hurt the Leaf that we hope to prevent. Those began during the upcoming chunin exams."

"I see, well it is good to know that we still have some time. However, I must also ask about the Kyubi–Kurama you called him…Did you really unlock his seal?"

"I did," Naruto replied. "But to be honest, I trust Kurama with my life. There's no way I would have survived this past decade without his help."

Then Hinata spoke up. "Furthermore, Kurama didn't attack the village of his own will. It was Madara who'd initially released him from Kushina. He also used his Sharingan to control Kurama and force him to attack the village."

"I see…" The Hokage murmured. "That certainly does answer some questions I had from that night…"

As he studied the faces of those in front of him, he remembered something.

"Also, Naruto. That eye of yours…" Sarutobi finished, letting the question remain unspoken.

Naruto reflexively reached up towards his left eye, before turning away. Hinata looked towards him with a sad expression on her face.

"It was a parting gift…from Hanabi." he answered quietly.

Sarutobi was quiet, studying the young man for a moment.

'_His grief is still fresh, he obviously hasn't had that eye for very long, but…I can't help but wonder why he seems to feel so guilty.'_

"What do you plan to do?" The Hokage asked them, changing the subject.

Naruto looked towards him resolutely, determination evident on his face. "We'll fight. We'll win." He smiled, "I'm not someone who gives up after just one try, even time can't stop me."

Sarutobi nodded. _'Perhaps he hasn't changed as much as I'd thought. I'd never have expected myself to feel this way, but I'm happy for that.'_

"You've grown Naruto," Sarutobi complimented him. "Tell me, did you ever achieve your dream?"

At this Naruto chuckled, rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment. "To tell you the truth, old man, I never made it past genin."

"Genin?!" Sarutobi asked, shocked. _'I was almost certain that he'd really managed to become a Kage!'_

Hinata just sighed. "No, he didn't, but that's only because he spent two years training with Jiraiya-san. After the war began, we didn't bother wasting time on unnecessary titles. But for some reason," she said, rolling her eyes as if she'd had to deal with this situation too many times before, "he likes to conveniently forget that he was the field commander of our army, making him the equivalent of a Kage in all but name. We simply haven't had an official Kage from any village since Tsunade-sama and the others died ten years ago."

"Come on Hinata-chan!" Naruto griped playfully, "You know I haven't cared about being a genin in ages!"

Sarutobi nodded distractedly in acceptance of Hinata's explanation, barely even noticing Naruto's response. "Training with Jiraiya? And Tsunade as Hokage?" he whispered. Then he quickly reined in his curiosity. "I apologize, I'm getting off track," he said, looking towards the couple in front of him. "I'm sorry, but at this rate our conversation will continue for the entire day. We can discuss more of your knowledge of the future later, but you should leave soon so that my guards don't become too suspicious. First, though, tell me, did you two only come here to inform me of these upcoming events?"

Hinata shook her head. "While we thought it best to hide our true identities from all but you for now, we actually would like to rejoin the village, to help with both this and other matters."

"I understand." Sarutobi said, smiling, "Konoha would be more than happy to have you. The cover you've developed was quite clever. There shouldn't be too many questions about Whirlpool shinobi joining our village."

"So how exactly will this work?" Naruto asked curiously.

"Standard procedure for joining Konoha is rather simple. All shinobi who wish to join the village only need to obtain my approval, which I will give to you. After that, regardless of ability, all of these shinobi must serve a mandatory probationary period as a genin before they are eligible for promotion." The Hokage sighed, "I apologize for this, especially given the fact that you are already Leaf shinobi and are obviously among the most capable in the village, but I do not want to draw too much attention to you by excusing you from this requirement."

"Don't worry," Naruto assured him, "Like Hinata said, we haven't put much emphasis on rank in a long time. Besides," he added as he looked out the window towards the village "I'm just glad to see my home again."

"I'm glad you understand. Still, know that I will promote you as soon as I am able to. I wouldn't be so cruel as to make you two take the chunin exams to progress. Furthermore, despite your official status as genin, you will still be assigned higher level missions due to your abilities and be compensated accordingly. Given the circumstances, I will also give you the autonomy to operate independently and do what you deem necessary to prevent this war that you've told me of. In the meantime, I'll trust you two to inform me of any important events or developments."

"Of course," Hinata replied, "you can count on us."

"Before you leave, we'll have to make sure you have enough to live on for the time being. Take this," he said as he pulled a few envelopes from his desk, "These are the equivalent to what you'd get for completing several S-rank missions. You'll find enough money in there to support yourselves for the next few months while you get settled down and begin to complete your own missions."

Naruto eyed the envelopes apprehensively, "Old man…"

"I insist," Sarutobi said. "Besides, I'm sure you've more than earned it through the past ten years."

"Thank you," Naruto said as he took the envelopes and put them away.

"Thank you Hokage-sama," Hinata repeated.

"We also need to find you somewhere to live as well. The village keeps empty housing for occasions such as this. You can take one of those to live in as long as you need to," he said as he began to look through his desk for a list of vacant homes. "However, you should probably live together since I believe that being married was also a part of your cover. I hope you don't mind."

At this statement, both of them fidgeted in embarrassment.

Sarutobi looked up, confused. "Is something wrong?" He asked.

"Actually…" Naruto began before trailing off quickly.

"We really are married, Hokage-sama," Hinata finished, blushing slightly.

Sarutobi stared at them for a moment, and then laughed. "Really now?" he asked with amusement. "Well I can't say I'm too surprised, I suppose. The Hinata I know has been following Naruto around for the past few years after all."

"Following me around?" Naruto asked with a puzzled look on his face. "What are you talking abo–"

"So yes, sharing a home won't be a problem," Hinata interrupted hurriedly; slightly redder than she had been seconds before.

The Hokage smiled at the two of them. _'Yes,'_ he thought to himself _'now that I think about it, they do work well together.'_

"Here we are," the Hokage said, finally finding the set of papers he was looking for.

He handed the papers over to the couple and waited silently as they looked through and discussed them.

"We'll take this one," Naruto said, pointing to one of the entries.

Sarutobi scanned through the entry. It was an apartment on the far end of the village, opposite the Hyuga estate.

"Ah. I couldn't detect it, but you're worried about your clan seeing through that henge of yours, aren't you?" he said.

Hinata nodded, "Yes. The technique we used is rather advanced, but someone skilled enough with the Byakugan may still be able to spot some abnormalities."

"I see," Sarutobi said, understanding her apprehension. "That is a danger that is best avoided, especially with your eyes. Very well, this apartment also happens to be fully furnished so that will make things easier as well." He filled out the necessary paperwork to allow the two ninja to live in the apartment, as well the forms necessary to grant them the status of genin within the village. "These forms contain my approval for you to become ninja of the village and to live in the apartment you chose. Take them to the personnel office downstairs and they will take care of the rest."

"Thanks for everything you're doing, old man," Naruto answered.

"We're very grateful," Hinata affirmed.

They both bowed.

"We'll leave for now," Naruto said, "but we'll contact you if anything comes up." He paused, "Also, it's not much to worry about, but I'm sorry about what my younger self is going to do tomorrow."

"All right…" Sarutobi said warily. _'I wonder what he means by that…it's probably just some prank to celebrate his final exam.'_

The Hokage watched as Naruto and Hinata transformed back into their disguises and took down the tags around his office. As they were about to open the door to leave, he remembered Naruto's earlier comment about never being promoted and stopped them.

"Naruto?" he asked.

Naruto and Hinata both stopped and turned towards him.

"I want you to know that I believe you would have made an excellent Hokage, given the chance."

Naruto stared at him for a moment, and then grinned. "Thanks old man. Really, it means a lot, but…it's alright. It doesn't matter to me whether or not I'm a Hokage; all I really care about now is saving this village."

The Hokage nodded in response and Naruto turned to go. _'But don't you see, Naruto?'_ Sarutobi thought with a small smile as he watched the couple leave. _'That desire to save the village, regardless of fame or recognition, is exactly why you would have made such a good Hokage. I'm so proud of who you've become.'_

As the door closed shut, Sarutobi calmly picked up his pipe and lit it, his paperwork forgotten, as he pondered what this day's events meant for the future of his beloved village.

* * *

"That went well," Hinata said a few minutes after they left the building.

"Yeah," Naruto agreed, "Shikamaru was right, the old man definitely was the best person to talk to." He looked back towards the tower, "What did you do to stop them from noticing us anyway?"

"I used a subtle technique to misdirect their senses," she answered. "I only made it strong enough so that your seals wouldn't be noticed, and only held it for a moment, so none of them noticed the change."

"That's amazing," Naruto complimented her. "Sometimes I wish that I wasn't so horrible at genjutsu, it really does seem like it'd be useful."

Hinata smirked. "I have my tricks and you have yours," she reminded him teasingly, "we're a team for a reason you know."

Naruto chuckled, "Yeah, yeah, you're right."

They walked in silence for a bit longer before Hinata remembered something.

"Now that I think about it," she began as they walked through an empty side street, "why did you apologize to the Hokage right before we left?"

Naruto stopped walking and shifted uncomfortably.

She paused, looking at him. "What is it?" she pushed, becoming concerned.

"Well, uh, you see…" he trailed off.

"Yes?"

"It has to do with how I passed the academy exam and became a genin…"

She thought for a moment, digging up old memories. "That's right…" she said, "I remember now. You failed the academy exam but still became a genin. You never did tell me how."

He shifted again. "Yeah, it had to do with that. I didn't want to make you angry…"

'_Angry?'_ she thought to herself, _'why would he be afraid that I'd get angry? Naruto may be exasperating sometimes, but I don't recall either of us ever being truly angry at the other…'_ She raised her eyebrow at him.

"You see," he continued, responding to the unspoken question, "I sort of, may've, stolen the Scroll of Seals from the Hokage's house…"

Hinata frowned, "The scroll filled with forbidden techniques? I can't say that was smart to do," she chastised him, "but I don't know why you'd think I'd be angry about it, especially since it happened so long ago. Or at least it did for us," she amended. "Besides I've done my fair share of dumb things too."

She started to walk, but Naruto grabbed her hand and she turned to face him again.

"Err, actually there's more…" he paused. "The reason I did it was because Mizuki-sensei told me if I stole it and learned one of the techniques inside that I could graduate. That's actually how I learned the shadow clone jutsu," he added. "But Mizuki-sensei lied to me so that he could steal the scroll himself."

Hinata froze, staring wide eyed at her husband.

Naruto hurried onward. "I didn't know that it wasn't allowed, so a bunch of ninja were sent after me. Iruka-sensei was the one who found me. Right when I was trying to explain, Mizuki-sensei came out of nowhere and tried to kill us both." Naruto looked away, "He was the one who first told me that I was the jinchuuriki for the Nine-Tails and that it was the reason why everyone hated me growing up. But Iruka-sensei said that he believed in me and I beat Mizuki-sensei to protect him. After that, he said that I graduated and could become a genin…" He finished, looking slightly afraid of how she'd react.

"Mizuki-sensei," she whispered, "I always wondered what had happened to him, but I never thought…" She clenched her fist. "He tried to kill you?! That bastard!" she roared. "I will put nightmares so terrible in his mind that he'll wish I'd killed him instead!" She narrowed her eyes and suddenly her Byakugan activated unconsciously in reaction to her anger. "Where is he…?"

"Damn, I knew she'd be angry," He whispered to himself, looking around to make sure no one had heard them. "Uh, Hinata…" Naruto said, "That's probably not a good idea, especially since none of this will even happen until tomorrow…Besides, if we stop Mizuki-sensei from tricking the younger me, there's no way that will change things for the better. He won't become a genin or become friends with Sasuke, Sakura and everyone else if we stop Mizuki-sensei. I'm not sure if I'd even get the chance to become friends with you," he said, looking into her eyes.

'_Damnit, he has a point,_' she thought to herself, sighing as she deactivated her eyes. "You're right. I'm sorry; I didn't really think that through all the way," she admitted, though she was still angry.

Naruto took her hand, squeezing it. "I understand. I know you're protective of me. After all, I still remember that time you almost got yourself killed saving me from Pain," he said with a grimace. "But considering how I reacted, I may be even more protective than you are…"

She nodded, remembering the stories she'd heard of Naruto's rampage after she was struck down. "I guess we'll just have to be careful with what we do sometimes," she said.

As they began to walk away, Hinata's anger was still simmering despite her acceptance of the situation.

"Naruto?" she asked as a thought came to her.

"Hm?"

"Did you ever see Mizuki-sensei again after that night?"

"No, I didn't. Why?"

"Just because I'm not chasing after him right now doesn't mean I'll forgive him. Make no mistake, if I see ever see him again after tomorrow night, I _will_ shatter his mind," she threatened.

"Remind me never to get on your bad side."

She smiled, "_You_ could never get on my bad side."

She squeezed his hand a bit harder as they continued to walk through the village.

* * *

As the sun was beginning to set, Naruto and Hinata walked towards the outskirts of the village in a direction leading them past from their new apartment. Neither had actually suggested or commented on their route. There was no need to. Both had felt the same, constant, pull to their destination ever since they had arrived in the village.

"There it is," Naruto said, seeing their goal as they walked into a clearing.

In the center of the area was a large, beautiful, stone memorial.

Once they stopped in front of the structure, he watched as Hinata reached out, gently laying her hand on its face.

'_Our friend's names may not be on this stone, but still, I'm glad we came here,'_ he thought to himself as he bowed his head. _'Even if everyone's alive now, it wouldn't be right to just forget the people we knew, the ones who fought and died to give us this chance,'_ he reflected as an image of B flashed through his mind.

They stood there for a few minutes before Naruto broke the silence

"I think everyone would have laughed at us if they had heard the crazy plan we gambled on," Naruto said, a touch of amusement in his voice.

Hinata smiled fondly, shaking her head. "I don't. Betting on this might have been foolhardy, even a bit crazy, but still…I'm sure that the others would have been proud knowing that even when things were at their darkest, we still had the courage to keep fighting. To try and defy destiny itself."

Naruto chuckled. "Well, I guess when you say it that way, it does sound more impressive. Maybe you're right."

They continued to watch the monument, content to simply stay lost in their respective thoughts.

"Well, well," a familiar voice said, "It's rare to see fellow visitors out here."

Naruto turned, smiling at the man, _'I should have guessed he'd show up here…'_

"Yo," the silver haired man said, "I don't believe we've met. Hatake Kakashi, at your service."

"I'm Uzumaki Sora," Naruto answered, "and this is my wife, Uzumaki Naomi. We've just joined your village as genin."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Hatake-san," Hinata added.

"The pleasure is all mine, and please feel free to call me Kakashi. We're going to be comrades after all," he replied. "Uzumaki? It's been quite some time since I've met one of your clan, though we do have one of your members in our village." He chuckled. "It's also been quite some time since I've met such obviously skilled genin, I'd forgotten about that rule for new additions."

Hinata shrugged, "It's just a rank, so we don't particularly care that much about it. We're just happy to have been accepted into the village."

"That's a good attitude to have; skill always meant more to me than rank. Anyway…" He looked behind them towards the memorial, "I'm curious. Since you've just joined us, I doubt that you're old enough to know any of the names on this stone. I wonder…why would you come here?"

"Because it's a reminder," Hinata answered, looking towards the stone. "Of others we've known and lost."

"But more than that," Naruto continued, "we came because it helps us remember that we never want to see another name have to be etched into that stone."

Kakashi was silent for a moment.

"You know, I plan to test some academy students in the next few days to see if they are ready to become genin. In the off chance that they actually pass and I become their instructor, I would be honored if you would join us during training one day. I don't know who they are yet, but I get the feeling that any genin would have something to learn from you two."

Naruto frowned, "You would ask complete strangers to train with your genin?" he asked in surprise.

"Well now," Kakashi said, a hint of a smile appearing underneath his mask, "you _are_ now Konoha shinobi and I have no reason not to trust my comrades. Besides…the reason you came here…for some reason it reminds me of my old sensei. If you are even the slightest bit like him, I would want my students to meet you."

Naruto nodded blankly at the unexpected comparison to his father. "We'll…think about it," he said honestly, looking towards Hinata who also seemed a little surprised.

"Please do," Kakashi said. "If they do pass, we will train in this area on weekdays. If not…" he shrugged, "You'll probably find me here at least. To be honest I would like to speak with you again, regardless of whether or not I have genin to train."

Naruto smiled, looking back at Kakashi, "So would I."

He turned towards Hinata and she nodded.

"Unfortunately, we have to leave now, but I'm sure we'll see you again."

"It was nice to meet you," Hinata added.

Kakashi nodded at them. "You as well. Good evening." He turned back towards the stone, beginning his silent vigil.

With that, Naruto and Hinata left the clearing, walking in the direction of a home that they'd never dared hope to see again.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

Here's the second chapter. It's quite a bit longer than how I'd originally envisioned it to be, but I couldn't really think of a way to split it up in a way that I liked, so I hope you all like more content.

One question I got that I wanted to address is additional pairings. At the moment I don't have any solid plans, but I will say that I tend to like Sasuke/Sakura, Shikamaru/Temari, and Neji/TenTen so I do lean towards those and you may catch them showing up here and there. I'll be able to say more after the story progresses a bit further.

That said, I'm very happy with the response I've gotten so far and I'm glad to see that my story didn't fall through the cracks, so thanks everyone! I hope you like this chapter even more and, as always, please review with what you think!


	3. Chapter 3 – Lessons

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of its characters**

_Note: From now on, for the sake of avoiding confusion, future Naruto will usually be referred to as Sora, while future Hinata will usually be referred to as Naomi._

* * *

**Chapter Three: Lessons**

"Again," Naomi told him.

Sora got up shakily, taking a deep breath. "Byakugan!" he cried, forming a hand seal.

Immediately his sense of perception changed drastically. He could see nearly everything within fifty meters around him. More than that, he could also see the chakra networks of every living thing within his field of perception. The experience was beyond his wildest dreams, even after having his wife describe it to him. It was also too much.

He gasped, falling to the ground as his vision returned to normal. He felt terrible, as if he were experiencing a horrible mix of vertigo, nausea and mental fatigue, all at the same time. "How…how can you stand this?" He groaned for the hundredth time.

Naomi knelt down next to him, rubbing his back soothingly. "Practice," she told him again. "You just need to practice."

The couple was in a secluded area of the forest, about three kilometers away from the village and, more importantly, prying eyes. As the pair had only been in the village for ten days, they still had a great deal of free time, so they had been coming to the same spot every morning so Sora could begin to learn how to use the Byakugan that now served as his left eye.

Sora sighed, "At this rate, it will be months before I can actually use this in a fight, and that's only assuming I get the chance train every day."

Naomi pursed her lips. "Actually," she corrected him, "you're doing quite well. The first few weeks training with the Byakugan are always the worst. You can already handle using it for about five minutes, so I doubt it will take longer than a month or so for you to be able to handle keeping it active indefinitely. After that, actually learning how to fight with it and how to read chakra networks will be a lot less uncomfortable."

Sora pushed himself up and into a sitting position, still feeling nauseous. "Really? It's that common to have this much trouble?"

Naomi smiled at him. "Did you really expect adjusting to 360 vision with a huge sight range would be easy? Honestly. Yes it's common. Learning to use the Byakugan isn't about motivation or training. It's more about getting your mind used to your new sense of sight than anything else; otherwise you'd be able to master it in a day with your shadow clones." She laughed lightly, "You're doing well…Sora." she said, hesitating slightly at having to use his assumed name, "I promise you that. Better than most do, that's for sure. Just remember this: you mustn't try to focus on everything at once, that's impossible. Using the Byakugan is not about what you can see; it's about being able to focus on what matters while ignoring all of the distractions."

"Distractions?" Sora asked.

"Yes," she answered, "While you are able to see everything for an incredible distance, it doesn't matter unless you can ignore what's unnecessary. Otherwise you'll be too focused on your surroundings to be any use in a fight."

"That makes sense," he said, getting up and stretching, "I guess I just didn't expect this to be so complicated. I figured I would be able to just push through and train like I normally do."

"How many times do I have to explain that you can't just learn everything by training?" Naomi sighed.

Sora laughed at her, rubbing his head in embarrassment.

Naomi rolled her eyes at him. She looked up towards the sun and saw that it was about an hour before midday. "Anyway, we've been here for five hours, so that's enough for today. Do you want to go back home now? Or maybe we should stop by the Hokage's office again; I'm sure he's not too mad at you for the scroll anymore."

He grimaced at the memory of how annoyed the Hokage had been with him for his younger self's actions when they'd visited four days before. _'Maybe just a couple more days…'_ he thought. "Actually," Sora answered "I was thinking about Kakashi's offer again. I think we should go by and see them."

Naomi cocked her head questioningly. "Are you sure? Weren't you the one who said we shouldn't interfere with things, like the other day with Mizuki-sensei?"

"I know…" he said, "but stopping him would have had many more consequences, most of them bad. It would have changed everything and made the future too unpredictable. Giving our friends a little push, on the other hand, shouldn't change as much or make anything worse. Sasuke especially…" he trailed off. "Anyway, I didn't mean we should do nothing, just that we need to weigh the consequences before we intervene in the bigger events."

Naomi pursed her lips, "You have a point," she admitted, "I suppose we already started to get involved the second we met with the Hokage." Then she smiled, "Okay, let's go. If we're going to see Team 7 though, we might as well try and see everyone else too at some point." She frowned. "My younger self, especially, could use a little help…"

"What? Why?" Sora asked, confused. "I never remember there being anything wrong with you."

Naomi laughed and kissed him on the cheek, which only served to confuse him further.

"What was that for? Not that I mind…"

"For not knowing what I'm talking about," she answered happily. "Don't worry, I can handle her."

'_Weird…'_ Sora thought, _'I wonder what she meant by that…'_

"Anyway," he said, changing the subject, "If we leave now we should be able to get there before they start doing anything too important."

"Sora…" she said, looking puzzled, "You know it's around 11, right? Shouldn't your team have started practice hours ago? I don't mind going, but I still don't want to barge in right in the middle of whatever exercise they'll doing."

He sighed. "Don't worry; I doubt they've been doing anything for too long."

"But…" she started, "I'm sure I saw all three of you at that training ground hours before this time at some point or another…"

Sora frowned. "Let's just say Kakashi-sensei was never the most punctual of teachers."

"If you say so…" she said, obviously still skeptical.

"Trust me," he said, starting to leave the clearing. "To be honest there's a good chance that he's not even there yet."

* * *

"Wow," Naomi said with astonishment, "I never thought Kakashi-sensei would be so…unreliable."

Sora rolled his eyes, "Oh, he's reliable when it counts, it's just that when it doesn't matter…" he trailed off, letting the implication hang.

The pair was hidden in a tree at the third training ground watching three miserable looking genin, complain as they waited for their teacher.

"What was wrong with your teachers?" she teased. "First an irresponsible and eccentric flake, then a perverted old man."

"Ero-sennin wasn't _that_ bad," Sora insisted.

"You only say that because Jiraiya-san never peeked into your bathhouses."

He chuckled quietly.

"You know," Naomi said to him, a thought coming to her, "when we go down there we'll probably have some trouble with Sasuke-kun, right?"

Sora sighed "Yeah. I know. He's actually what I'm worried about the most. Sasuke never was very good about respecting other people's teachings at this age; even Kakashi-sensei had trouble. It'll be even harder for us once he finds out we're genin. Still, we owe it to him to at least try. Just remember to be forceful," he added. "I know you don't like to be that way, but we don't have much choice with Sasuke. Actions will mean more than words ever could to him so we may end up having to beat some sense into him as a last resort."

She smiled at him, "It's okay, I don't mind. We'll get through to him somehow."

She let the conversation drop and continued to watch the children for a few more minutes.

"You know, It's hard to believe we were like that all those years ago," she whispered fondly, breaking the silence, "They seem so inexperienced, so…carefree."

He smiled slightly at her, a bit of nostalgia in the expression. "It's weird, right? But still, this is the way things _should_ be; they are only twelve after all."

"I know," she agreed softly. _'But it's not the way things _will_ be,'_ she thought to herself sadly.

They sat there, quietly lost in thought. After about ten more minutes of watching, however, there was a large puff of smoke in the middle of the field where the three genin were waiting.

* * *

"Yo," Kakashi called out nonchalantly to his students.

"YOU'RE LATE!" Naruto and Sakura yelled.

Kakashi looked away. "Well, you see, there was a little boy who was looking for his lost dog and—"

"Liar!" Sakura interrupted him.

"You're never on time!" Naruto shouted.

Sasuke just quietly stared daggers at him.

Kakashi laughed sheepishly before noticing their hidden guests.

'_Not bad,'_ he thought to himself. _'It took me this long to notice them and it doesn't even seem like they're trying.'_

"So you came," he said, smiling, which earned looks of confusion from his students. "I wasn't sure if you would."

He watched as the couple jumped down from their perch, surprising his young students.

"Well you did invite us, Kakashi-san," Naomi said to him, a hint of annoyance in her voice. "Though you forgot to mention that you weren't going to show up until hours after your students arrived."

"Well," Kakashi answered quickly. "Like I was explaining to them there was this little boy and—"

Sora just sighed, rolling his eyes. "Don't even try," he said tiredly. It was as if he was far past the point of caring about Kakashi's habit even though Kakashi had only met the pair once before.

Kakashi laughed again, embarrassed.

"Sensei?" Sakura asked, "Who are they?"

"Ahh, I haven't mentioned them yet, have I?" Kakashi said. "This is Uzumaki Sora and his wife Uzumaki Naomi. They just became genin of this village."

"WHAT?!" Naruto shouted towards him. "Uzumaki?! When did you meet them?! Why didn't you tell me about them?!"

Kakashi shrugged, "I forgot. Besides you were bound to run into them at some point or another."

Kakashi turned his attention back to the couple, noticing their confusion at the exchange.

"I mentioned before that there was an Uzumaki in our village?" He told them, "As luck would have it, he was one of the students I tested. This is Uzumaki Naruto."

"I see," Naomi said as she turned towards Naruto with a smile. "It's a pleasure to meet you, though I believe we saw you when we first entered the village. I must say, I rather enjoyed your…_decorations_ to the monument." She added with a twinkle in her eye.

Naruto ran towards them, grinning hugely, "If you liked that, just wait until you see—!"

"Naruto," Kakashi said plainly. "We've discussed this. Please don't encourage him Naomi-san," he added, which earned him a laugh from her.

Naruto flushed. "Oh right, I'm not allowed to do pranks anymore…but still I didn't know there even was an Uzumaki clan or that I even had any family!"

Kakashi looked away slightly at the comment, reminded again of how lonely the boy's life had been. _'It'll be better from now on,'_ he told himself, _'Now that I'm his teacher, I can make sure that he isn't treated so poorly anymore. I'll train him to be the hero sensei wanted him to be. And those two…surely they'll help him too, right? They are his family, even if they've only just met…'_

"You idiot," Sakura said, sounding annoyed, though she was still smiling slightly at his discovery. "You realize that we learned about the Uzumaki clan at the academy right? They were an important clan in the Hidden Whirlpool Village."

"Oh! Of course, Sakura-chan!" Naruto exclaimed hurriedly, "I knew that, I just forgot until now!" He rubbed the back of his head while laughing.

Kakashi coughed, regaining everyone's attention, and waved Naruto back over to their group. "As for my other two students, this" he said gesturing toward Sakura, "is Haruno Sakura. And this," he said gesturing towards Sasuke "Is Uchiha Sasuke."

"What are you doing here?" Sasuke asked quietly from beside Kakashi.

Kakashi looked at Sasuke. He sounded annoyed but there was a hint of something else…_'Damn,'_ Kakashi thought. '_Naruto suddenly having family members appear out of nowhere? I should have known he'd be at least a little jealous.'_ It wasn't much of a surprise; the reaction would be natural for anyone, especially someone who went through the things Sasuke had.

Kakashi sighed. Although they would never admit it, he could see that Naruto and Sasuke were starting to grow on each other in their short time as teammates. It wasn't much, it hadn't even been two weeks, after all, but the signs were still there. Kakashi suspected that one of biggest reasons for this was because neither of them had a family. That commonality, though unfortunate, had still helped to begin bringing them together. _'I'll just have to hope this won't push Sasuke away. He's already difficult enough to work with as it is.'_

He turned his attention to Sasuke. "I ran into these two last week, the day they arrived in the village. It was a few days before I gave you your genin test, actually. We talked, and I decided that any new ninja could benefit from their knowledge, so I asked them to come by during training one day. Though I wasn't sure whether or not they would or not."

"They're genin," Sasuke said in annoyance. "Sensei, they look like they're your age and they're still genin, what could I possibly learn from them?" His expression became smug, "I guess I'm not surprised, though, if they're related to the dobe."

"What did you say?!" Naruto yelled.

"Sasuke…" Kakashi warned.

Sora held up a hand, cutting Kakashi off. "It's alright," he said, showing no sign of being offended. He turned his attention back to Sasuke. "It's true that we're genin, but you're wrong if you think that means there's nothing we can teach you."

Sasuke narrowed his eyes. "I have nothing to learn from people who are weaker than I am." He looked towards Kakashi "I'm going to train on my own; I won't waste any more time with these weaklings." He turned to leave.

'_He still has much to learn,'_ Kakashi mused, shaking his head.

Just as he was about to call out to the boy, Naomi's voice rang out. "It's true that we are weak. Or at least…too weak to protect what was important to us…" she said wistfully, gazing towards the sky. "But that does not mean that we are weaker than you," she said, lowering eyes to stare intently at Sasuke.

Sasuke stopped. "What did you say?" he asked dangerously.

"Hey!" Sakura interjected, "Sasuke isn't weak!"

'_Now's not the time, Sakura,'_ Kakashi thought in frustration. _'Still maybe this will be a good chance for Sasuke to learn to stop being so disrespectful and arrogant,_" he looked towards Sora and saw the hint of satisfaction in his face, _'…and perhaps they see that too.'_

Naomi just smiled at him, "I don't wish to insult you Sasuke-kun, but I knew a man quite like you when I was younger. He was my husband's best friend," she said, looking towards Sora, "but his arrogance and pride blinded him, leading him to make bad decisions. You would be better off not making the same mistakes."

"I've already said that there's nothing for you to teach me," Sasuke said coldly, "Now stop trying to lecture me." He started to walk away again.

"If you really believe that you're stronger than us, prove it," she said.

Sasuke turned around, glaring at the woman. Then he smirked smugly. "Do you really think a regular genin can beat an Uchiha?" he asked.

"Yes," she said flatly. "Though honestly, I'm not sure I'd call either of us regular."

"Fine," he said, walking to stand in front of the pair. "I'll fight both of you at once, that way you might have at least some chance."

Sora looked towards his wife, and she nodded at him. "I'll pass," he said calmly, stepping away from her. "I'm sure Naomi will be more than enough to match you."

Sasuke's smirk grew wider, "It's your loss. But just so you know, I'm going to beat you after I'm finished with her." He said, pointing at Naomi. "I won't let you hide behind that woman."

"I'd be careful about underestimating my wife," Sora responded, ignoring the insult. "I will warn you though. If you want to have any chance of winning, you should have your friends help you," he said as he looked at the other two genin.

"I'm not helping that bastard!" Naruto yelled.

"Sasuke-kun doesn't even need our help!" Sakura said, "Unless you want me to help of course, Sasuke-kun…" she added hesitantly.

"They're not my friends!" Sasuke said. "Besides, all they'll do is drag me down."

Kakashi sighed in exasperation. _'After they passed my bell test I was really hoping they would be able to get along more easily than this. I guess a few lectures on the importance of teamwork are never enough.'_

Naruto and Sakura walked away from Kakashi, trying to get a better view of the match. Sora, on the other hand, walked past them, completely unconcerned as he came up beside Kakashi.

Kakashi nodded toward towards Sasuke. "You did that on purpose I assume?"

Sora nodded, though it was a bit hesitant. "In a way it was. We actually learned a bit about all three of your students before we came here. Sasuke-kun seemed the most…difficult to deal with of the three. We didn't plan for things to happen like this, but if we wanted to have any chance of him respecting and listening to us, there wasn't much choice but to do things this way. Though honestly, it may have happened anyway. Naomi…she's never been fond of those who show arrogance. Either way, I'm sorry about this," he finished.

Kakashi shook his head. "It's fine. Truthfully, it will probably be a good lesson for him. He still doesn't seem to value teamwork as much as he should. Besides, I did ask for you to come as a favor. It would be wrong to question your methods."

"Thank you, Kakashi-san."

"Still," he said, "I'm curious. If you knew who my genin were beforehand you must have known you were related to Naruto. Why hadn't you spoken to him yet? This is hardly to place for a family reunion."

Sora just closed his eyes. "Maybe not," he said with a hint of sadness in his voice, "but to someone who has never had a family I doubt that the setting really matters too much. No," he added, shaking his head, "it's better to meet him this way than as some random strangers introducing themselves as your clanmates from another village."

"I see…" Kakashi said quietly.

A sad expression flickered across Sora's face. "This seems important to you for some reason. You may be his teacher, but it's only been a week…why would you be so concerned about him?" He looked Kakashi in the eye, "Is it because he's a jinchuuriki?"

Kakashi froze, staring in surprise at the man "You know about that?"

Sora nodded solemnly, "It doesn't take long to learn that the village treats him very poorly. After learning that, it wasn't too difficult to learn the reason why. So" he continued, "I can see why you may be concerned about him because of the Kyubi, but—"

"No," Kakashi interrupted, shaking his head. "That's not why. There was little I could do to help him directly as he was growing up, there were so many rules because of the Kyubi, but…I owe it to someone to look after him. I actually requested to be his teacher for that reason as well."

Sora's eyes widened slightly, "I didn't know that…" he said softly.

Kakashi noticed the reaction, and spoke hurriedly. "That isn't why I asked you two to come see my genin, however," he said, trying to clarify his intentions. "Make no mistake; I was being sincere when I asked you two to come here. Before I spoke to you I'd heard that he had failed the academy exam and wouldn't be able to become a genin yet." He looked towards the boy, "It wasn't until the next day that I had heard he had passed because of special circumstances, and it was another day after that when I'd heard that I would be his sensei."

"I…apologize, Kakashi-san…for questioning you," Sora said. "And I believe you when you say that you were sincere in your invitation," he added.

Kakashi relaxed.

"Don't worry," Sora continued, "we will do what we can to help him, regardless of him being a jinchuuriki."

"Thank you," Kakashi said with sincerity. "For doing what I can't."

Sora smiled slightly at him. "I'd say that you are doing more than you give yourself credit for, Kakashi-san, sometimes…sometimes there are just things beyond your control. Besides, as you've said, we're comrades. Even if he weren't a member of my clan, I would be worse than trash if I did not help him."

Kakashi smiled as well, noticing the similarity between the line and what he had told his own genin only the week before. _'There it is again,_' he thought, _'that inner strength and spirit. He sounds just like sensei and Obito did.'_

"Truly. Thank you, Sora-san," Kakashi reiterated. "Now if only we can figure out a way to help Sasuke and Sakura."

Sora chuckled. "Only a few minutes and we're their teachers too, now?" he teased.

Kakashi flushed. "I didn't mean to imply—"

Sora just laughed again. "I'm just joking, Kakashi-san; it's fine, we're happy to help. We wouldn't have come otherwise. Besides," he added mischievously, "it's been awhile since I've seen Naomi have a chance to practice _without_ a bunch of people trying to kill us."

Kakashi frowned. "Surely wherever you came from can't have been that dangerous?" he asked.

The man beside him looked away, his eyes dark. "It was," he stated simply.

Kakashi inwardly cursed his mistake and changed the subject. "So what will she do?" he asked, noticing that neither Sasuke, nor Naomi, had moved.

Sora looked towards the two, distracted from his thoughts, and smirked. "You'll see," he said, an edge of amusement to his voice.

Kakashi nodded and turned his attention to the fight.

"Well?" Sasuke asked, obviously impatient. "Are you going to do anything? You've just been standing there for the past few minutes ignoring me with that stupid smile on your face!"

Naomi eyed him, still smiling as she folded her arms. "What are you talking about?" she asked. "I started a while ago."

"Hey, Naomi!" Sora called loudly from across the clearing, "Make sure that everyone can see, alright?"

"I will!" she called back to him.

'_What is he talking about?'_ Kakashi thought to himself.

As if on cue, he heard a low rumbling noise as the ground began to shake and the sky grew dark. He saw shadows moving from behind the trees and began to notice even stranger noises. Then something stepped into the clearing. A terrible, grotesque, monster shambled into the field. It was nearly eight feet tall, with three arms and four legs. Its patchy red and black skin flaking off as it walked. This…thing's face was terrifying, its skin was pulled tight against its skull, as if the bones were struggling to get out, and in the center of its forehead was a single, bloodshot, eye. The worst part was the noise. That awful, grating, moaning noise it made as it moved slowly towards Sasuke. And then more of them emerged from the trees.

Kakashi counted ten of them, each terribly disfigured and monstrous in a different way. All three of his genin were frozen in place, obviously disturbed by the sight.

Sasuke backed away a few steps. "What the hell are these things?!" he cried. He didn't wait for an answer, instead jumping up and attacking them with balls of fire.

Kakashi let out a low whistle. "So this is what you meant by letting everyone see…Genjutsu I'm guessing? I've never seen summons quite so…horrific."

"Yeah," Sora confirmed, nodding. "It's genjutsu."

Kakashi watched as Sasuke continued to attack the seemingly unstoppable monsters. "This looks like a pretty complex genjutsu," he commented. "She's even having them move when he attacks them, as if they're actually real. And to make it so all of us can see it as well…she must be very skilled."

Sora grinned. "Naomi's genjutsu…" he said, "she knows the normal things of course: misdirection, confusion, stealth…but this sort of thing is what she's best at. Monsters, fear, nightmares…worse things…" he trailed off. "To be honest, she's being pretty nice if this is the worst she's going to use."

"Really," Kakashi said, impressed. "I can only think of one other genjutsu specialist that could match something like this."

"A genjutsu specialist?" Sora laughed, earning a look of confusion from Kakashi. "Sorry, I should have mentioned this before. Naomi's specialty isn't genjutsu, it's taijutsu."

"What?!" Kakashi asked, dumbfounded. _'For her to be this skilled at genjutsu, without it being her specialty…'_ He regained his composure. "That's…amazing," he said honestly.

Sora chuckled quietly. "Isn't it? She's so good at genjutsu that when she actually gets serious and starts using her taijutsu, well…let's just say most people don't even have the chance to be surprised. Sasuke made a mistake when he challenged her by himself."

"You're right," Kakashi commented quietly as he watched Sasuke continue to struggle. _'Sasuke wasn't the only one. I could tell she was strong and still I managed to underestimate her myself,'_ he thought.

Sasuke landed away from the illusory monsters, panting heavily. "This can't possibly be real," he muttered. "This has to be an illusion."

Naomi smirked at him. "I was waiting for you to figure it out. But just because you know it's an illusion doesn't mean you can stop it."

"Release!" Sakura yelled from the side as she made a hand seal.

"I'm impressed that one of you already knows how to break genjutsu, but I'm afraid that won't work," Naomi said, shaking her head. "My techniques are too powerful to be broken that easily, even if this one happens to be a bit clunky and obvious."

"Who cares?!" Sasuke yelled, glaring at the woman. "If this is an illusion it can't hurt me and without your tricks, you're nothing!"

Naomi just sighed. "If I wanted to actually hurt you, I'd have done more than make you see fake monsters."

"Then you should have done that before, when might have had a small chance at surprising me," Sasuke said arrogantly. He jumped up, forming hand seals. "Katon: Great Fireball!" he yelled, a torrent of flame escaping his mouth.

Naomi waited calmly, watching as the attack came closer to her. Sasuke's fireball crashed into the ground, but when the smoke dissipated, she was gone.

"Where did she go?!" Sasuke asked, looking around wildly. Suddenly, Kakashi's sense of sight disappeared, and everything became pitch black. After half a second, his vision returned, the monsters had disappeared, and the clearing looked as if nothing had happened. Then there was Naomi, her palm extended outward, as Sasuke fell away from her towards the ground.

"Lesson number one:" she stated calmly, "unless you want to die, never underestimate your opponent."

* * *

Sasuke groaned, lying on the ground in shock. _'She beat in in just one attack?'_ he thought in disbelief. '_How could this have happened? She's just a genin, isn't she?'_

"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura yelled out, running over. "Are you okay?!"

Naruto just stood to the side, laughing. "Serves you right, teme!"

"How?" Sasuke croaked, ignoring his teammates. "How are you so strong? You said you were weak…"

Naomi kneeled down beside him. "I said I was too weak to protect what I wanted to," she corrected him, smiling sadly. "But I didn't say that I wasn't strong."

Sasuke, with a bit of trouble, pushed himself up and looked away from her.

"You're stronger than me," he admitted. "You're just a genin, but still, I couldn't beat you."

"Actually," Kakashi said, walking over to him with Sora at his side, "they're only genin because they just joined our village. They're both easily as strong as most of the jonin in the village, if not more. I would have explained that if you had been willing to actually listen for more than five seconds."

Sasuke's eyes widened. "What?!" he asked in surprise.

Naomi smirked at him. "Sora told you not to underestimate me, Sasuke-kun. You should be careful when you make assumptions about people."

Sasuke looked down. _'I guess she has a point.'_ he thought to himself _'I don't want to admit it, but…I made a mistake. I never stood a chance.'_ His spirits dampened further as another thought came to him.

"I believe sensei when he says that you're as strong as a jonin." He paused for a moment, "Still, you said that you were too weak to do what you wanted…if you're that strong and still can't accomplish your ambitions, then how am I supposed to? Do I have to become even stronger than you?"

"There is more to accomplishing a goal than strength and ability, Sasuke-kun," she told him, expression softening. "You said that you didn't need your teammates to help you and that they would only drag you down, but you will learn that there are times when you can't accomplish your goals by yourself. I can't promise that you will always succeed if you work with them, but if nothing else, you stand a better chance fighting with allies than you would fighting alone." She turned, smiling at her husband, "That's one of the reasons we came to your village. We couldn't accomplish our goals on our own, but with allies, maybe we'll have the chance to make things right."

"I see…" Sasuke said, turning to look at his teammates. _'I still don't think I need them'_ he thought to himself, _'but maybe I should at least give them one chance. Sensei did say the same thing…'_

"What?!" Naruto complained loudly. "Work with that teme?! Why should I—!"

"Naruto-kun?" Naomi interrupted, turning towards him with a hint of exasperation in her voice as if she had dealt with his antics many times before, "This applies to both you and Sakura-san as well. You must _all_ learn to work together."

"But he—!"

"Naruto-kun," she interrupted again, an edge to her voice, "Would you like to see more monsters?"

"I…err—um," he fumbled. "No?"

"Then at least consider what I say before dismissing it," she said, a hint of mischief in her eye.

"Okay," he grumbled in annoyance.

"So are you alright, Sasuke-kun?" Sakura asked, holding her hand out to help him up.

"I don't need—" he started to say, before remembering the lesson that had just been beaten into him. He sighed and took her hand. "I mean…thanks. I'm fine."

Sakura beamed at him, and began to talk about how well he had done and that he would definitely win the next time. Sasuke groaned, but out of the corner of his eye, he could see Naomi smiling slightly at him.

* * *

They stayed for a few hours longer, fulfilling Kakashi's request and actually helping the young genin in their training, rather than simply fighting them. After the scheduled time ended and his students began to file away, Kakashi invited them to come back whenever they wanted, seeming rather pleased about the day's events.

"Thank you, Hinata," Sora said, using her real name after they had walked out of earshot.

"For what? Teaching your younger self some manners?" Naomi teased.

He pouted. "I don't think he's that bad."

"That's only because you barely have any manners yourself," she said with amusement. "Just one of the many things I love about you; it was a nice change of pace from the stuffiness of my clan," she added, wrinkling her nose. "Still, that doesn't mean he couldn't still stand to learn a few of them earlier than you did."

He let out a light chuckle. "Thanks…I think. Anyway…" he said, trying to get back on track.

"Sasuke-kun?" she asked.

He nodded in confirmation.

"Honestly, I'd expected that you would have been the one to talk to him since you know him better than I do. He just dismissed us so quickly…I guess I just thought that I was in the better position to bait him into a challenge."

"No," he said, "you did the right thing. I really had planned on handling Sasuke myself, but I think you might have taught him things in a way that was better than I ever could have."

"You're wrong," she told him. "Though I appreciate the complement, you would have done at least as well as I did getting through to him, just in your own way. Besides, I'm sure you'll get your chance, he's not going to change overnight so he'll probably need a push in the right direction from time to time." She paused. "I'm not sure I'll ever be able to really trust him, not after seeing what he was capable of, but…maybe there is a bit of hope for him."

"There is," Sora affirmed. "He redeemed himself before when he saved me and B. He's a good person. I'll just make sure he doesn't have to prove it this time."

"That aside," Naomi said, switching topics, "I'm glad you convinced me to go. If nothing else, it was nice to see Sakura-san and Kakashi-sensei again."

He nodded, "It was. It's been a long time since they…" he trailed off. "Anyway, I'm happy with the way things went too."

Naomi let the conversation lapse and they continued to walk for a few more minutes.

Suddenly Naomi smiled. _'I was wondering when he'd show up,'_ she thought.

"You do know," she called, "that we've already noticed you; right, Naruto-kun?"

They turned, watching as Naruto dropped from a nearby tree.

"Hi," he said, rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment at being caught. "Guess I still need to practice my stealth more."

'_That and you're trying to follow the two people who know you best,'_ she thought, suppressing a laugh.

"You know that you don't have to try to sneak up on us," Sora said to him.

"Sorry," he said, looking down, "I didn't mean to be rude. It's a habit I picked up to get around easier. Less people."

A shadow flickered across Sora's face. "It's okay," he said quietly, "I know what you mean."

"Anyway," Naomi said, steering the conversation in a different direction, "was there something you needed? I thought you left with Sasuke-kun and Sakura-san."

"Sort of. I didn't want to ask in front of the others, but…" Naruto paused, "well, I didn't even know that I had a clan, so I wanted to know if I could just…talk with you sometime. It's okay if you don't want to," he added hurriedly, "I'd understand, you barely know me."

"Naruto-kun," Naomi said comfortingly, resting her hand on his shoulder, "even if we don't know each other yet, you are family. We would be happy to spend time with you."

"Family…" Naruto whispered quietly, longing in his voice. He looked down, "I don't want to lie to you though. Almost everyone in the village hates me because I-I—" he struggled with his words.

"That," Sora interrupted, "does not matter to us."

"But I—"

"You are no monster," Naomi reassured him.

"You know," Naruto said in astonishment. Then he hugged her. "Thank you," he said softly.

Naomi looked over at her husband and saw him smiling slightly. _'My Naruto,'_ she thought, _'so much loneliness and sadness, but still you became the best person I've ever known.'_

Naruto pulled away, eyes a little wet, beaming at her. "Sorry."

She smiled at him. _'And he still bounces back just as quickly as always. I'm glad for that,'_ she thought with amusement. "How about you come have dinner with us, our apartment isn't too far away from here."

"Sure!" Naruto said happily.

"Naomiiiii-channnnnnn?" Sora called out suspiciously.

She looked over and saw the expression on his face, causing her to sigh theatrically.

"Fine," she said, rolling her eyes. "We can make ramen."

"YES!" Sora and Naruto yelled with delight.

"Follow me!" Sora told Naruto before racing away.

Naruto cheered and ran after him.

'_Some things never change,'_ she thought. Watching them leave, Naomi just shook her head and casually walked after them, a bounce in her step.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

I give you chapter three of _To Defy Destiny_, hope you all enjoyed it!

I would like to clarify something, however, because it seems there may be a little bit of confusion. While the characters do keep referring to the masked man as Madara in the story, that doesn't necessarily mean that it isn't Obito. At the moment my plan is to have the masked man be Obito. The characters, however, do not know that because they never managed to unmask him in this universe, so they still refer to him as Madara. This is more of just a story decision to prevent the future Naruto/Hinata from knowing too many things. It also avoids dealing with the sheer amount of variables and character motivations that would have to change if the characters knew he was Obito and not actually Madara.

Not that that's out of the way, I invite you all to comment/review with what you think. Also, if you have any questions, feel free to ask.

P.S. For all of the people wondering about whether or not there will be younger NaruHina, there will be, so no need to worry!


	4. Chapter 4 – A Leaf in the Wind

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of its characters**

* * *

**Chapter 4: A Leaf in the Wind**

"You're going to be okay!" Naruto promised.

The woman smiled faintly at him. "It's too late for me," she said quietly.

"No!" he shouted. "Damn it, don't give up now!"

She chuckled quietly, "I'm not sure I have a choice anymore."

"Hinata will be here soon," he pleaded, "just—please just stay with me!" he cried.

She reached out to hold his face in her hand. "It's okay," she whispered. She perked up, "I have an idea. You asked me once…if I knew a way for you to become stronger. Better. I didn't think of it then, but now I know how."

"What the hell are you talking about?!" he yelled.

A small smile came to her face. "Take this," she said, gesturing towards her left eye.

"What?!"

"Let me…see…the end…of this nightmare…" she whispered. Her eyes fluttered and began to close.

"HANABI!"

* * *

Sora woke up in a cold sweat.

"Another nightmare?" Naomi asked, rolling over to look at him. Apparently he'd woken her.

He nodded. Sora had been having nightmares for years; even the past ten days they had spent in the past had been unable to soften his memories. His sister-in-law's death a month and a half ago only made them worse. "It was Hanabi this time," he said quietly. "The day she died…"

"No." Naomi said adamantly, as if reading his thoughts. "Naruto, I've told you before that it was not your fault."

"But—"

"No buts," she said. "My sister _chose_ to die protecting you because she believed in you. She wouldn't want you to blame yourself."

Sora felt horrible, but he felt even worse for his wife. She'd lost the last member of her family and still she tried to comfort him.

"Stop thinking stupid things," Naomi reiterated, "it was _not_ your fault. Just…hold me. Please."

He complied, holding on to Naomi without another word. Neither said anything as they both drifted off into sleep once again.

* * *

Sora walked down the street, lost in his thoughts. Though he was still shaken by his nightmare from the previous night, his wife's words had helped him to feel better, even if only a little.

'_Besides,'_ he told himself. _'She's not gone; no one is anymore.' _He shook his head to clear his mind, and then looked to his right towards his companions. He couldn't help but crack a small smile at the sight.

Sora's younger self was babbling happily to Naomi, while she cheerfully laughed and nodded at whatever he happened to be saying. Naruto had enjoyed having dinner with them the day before and had asked if they would spend time with him again, to which they readily agreed. Therefore, it was of little surprise when he'd come barreling towards their apartment straight after his training had finished early for the day.

'_I have to admit, I was a bit worried that Naomi wouldn't be able to stand the younger me for very long. I remember that I had a knack for getting on people's nerves,'_ Sora thought. _'But honestly, she looks like she's enjoying herself as much as he is.'_

"Hey! Hey! Naomi-neesan!" Naruto said loudly.

"Yes, Naruto-kun?" she answered, taking the new honorific in stride.

"You two are married right? Aren't you supposed to have rings?"

'_That's an odd question, especially coming from him,'_ Sora mused. "We do have rings," he cut in, "In a way, at least." He held his hand close to Naruto, showing him his ring finger. In the place where a ring would usually be was an intricate green tattoo that wrapped around the whole of his finger. The design shimmered and danced; it almost seemed like it was constantly flowing in a circular motion.

Naomi held her hand out as well. Her tattoo was identical to Sora's except that instead of green it was red. It seemed to glow in the light and looked as if it was burning. The pair of tattoos was one thing that neither had changed with their transformations.

Naruto looked back and forth between their two hands before pulling back and scratching his head. "Uh, I don't see them…" he said in confusion.

"The rings are the tattoos, Naruto-kun," Naomi informed him. "We don't have actual rings; those could get in the way during a fight. Besides, where we come from we didn't have enough metal to spare on anything other than weapons."

"Ohhhh!" Naruto said, finally understanding. His face lit up, "Those are so cool! How do they do that?"

"You mean the way mine looks like it's moving?" Sora asked. "It's because we used a special ink that changes based on chakra affinity. These tattoos take on some of the aspects of your natural affinity. Well, ours do at least," he added, "some people just create a false effect to try and throw off their enemies, which basically does nothing but guarantee that no one pays them much attention to begin with."

"Um, what's a chakra affinity?" Naruto asked.

"It's sort of complicated," Naomi said. "Basically it's the element that comes most naturally to you. For example, someone with a water elemental affinity will be able to cast stronger water jutsu more easily. Everyone has at least one affinity, though a small amount of people have more."

"Whoa," Naruto said, "I want to learn mine!"

"I'm sure Kakashi-san would be happy to teach you how to test yourself when you're ready," Sora said. _'I just hope he can learn it earlier than I did. So many things happened so fast last time that sensei never really had the time to even tell me about the elements until long after he should have. If it comes to that again, I'll probably end up just teaching him myself.'_

"Anyway, Naruto-kun, why are you so interested in our rings? Don't you think that you're a bit young to be wondering about something like that?" Naomi asked him with curiosity.

"Well, I'm going to marry Sakura-chan one day and if I want to beat that bastard Sasuke, I need to learn all I can right now!" Naruto answered with a large grin.

Sora's eyes widened slightly. _'Oh shit,'_ he cursed to himself, _'this is bad.'_ He glanced over towards Naomi.

"I see…" she answered with a grin, humoring the boy.

"Th-that's great," Sora added, starting to get nervous.

As they continued walking, Sora noticed Naomi hide her hands in her sleeves. _'Please, please, please let her not be angry,'_ he thought desperately.

"Are you okay, Sora-niisan? You look a little sick," commented Naruto.

"I-I'm alright," he lied.

Just as they rounded into an empty street the sky above him appeared to grow dark, though neither of his companions seemed to notice. Sora stopped walking and began to back away slowly. Naruto and Naomi kept walking, apparently having failed to see him stop.

An exact copy of his wife appeared in front of him, flanked by a large grotesque monster on either side of her. She started to crack her knuckles, an annoyed expression on her face.

"Err…I'm sorry?" Sora said meekly.

The copy of Naomi raised her fist. Sora held his hands in front of his face and closed his eyes. He waited a few moments for the onslaught to hit him. It never came. He opened one eye slightly; he saw that the sky was back to normal and the monsters were gone. The copy flicked him on the nose and giggled.

"Sorry, Naruto," she said, still laughing, "Once I saw your face, I just couldn't help myself. You should know by now that I wouldn't hold what your younger self says against you." The copy smirked, "Most of the time."

The illusion broke and the copy of his wife faded away.

"Sora-niisan?" Naruto asked in confusion, "Are you alright?"

"You were acting strange for a few seconds, Sora," Naomi added. Her expression was worried but her eyes had a playful gleam in them. Sora knew she was trying very hard not to burst out laughing.

He let out a relieved sigh and walked back to the two. "I'm fine," he said, "Sorry; I just lost myself for a bit."

"It's fine," Naomi assured him, smiling slightly.

'_Not a bad prank,'_ he thought, _'I guess I've rubbed off on her more than I'd thought.'_

They continued to walk aimlessly through the village. They passed through the main shopping district and began to walk towards what looked like a park. Unsurprisingly, Naruto had kept talking the entire time.

"Hey! Sora-niisan, I still haven't seen you fight yet! Naomi-neesan is amazing, are you as strong as her?!" Naruto asked.

Sora pondered the question for a moment. "We're about equal in skill and ability," he said truthfully. _'At least we are when I don't have Kurama's power,'_ he thought ruefully. "I'm a bit stronger, but she has more…finesse would be a good way to describe it. We haven't sparred in a while, but it's usually close whenever we do."

"Wow! You've got to help me train again!" Naruto said excitedly.

Naomi smiled warmly at him. "I'm sure we'll fin—" she paused, stopping in her tracks.

Naruto and Sora stopped as well. "Is something wrong?" Sora asked.

She shook her head. "Just a moment."

Naomi walked forward a few more steps and stopped in front of a tree.

'_What's she doing?'_ Sora thought puzzled.

Then, for some reason, she bowed before it. "My name is Uzumaki Naomi," she told the tree. She then gestured towards Sora, "and that is my husband, Uzumaki Sora. It's a pleasure to meet you."

Before Sora could open his mouth to question her, the tree shimmered and fell away. In its place stood a red eyed woman, along with a young girl with stark white eyes, who was hiding behind her. Sora smiled, _'I guess that answers that question.'_

The woman smirked, looking impressed, before she bowed as well. "I am Yuhi Kurenai; it's a pleasure to meet you as well."

* * *

Kurenai was surprised that this woman had managed to notice her genjutsu at all, let alone so quickly. _'Kakashi was right,'_ she decided,_ 'she is good. If I didn't know better, I'd think that she'd seen my techniques before.'_

Kurenai had gone out for drinks the previous night with Asuma, Gai, and Kakashi, who was, of course, late. While they had often met like this in the past simply to socialize, the gatherings now allowed them to speak with each other about the progress of their students. It especially helped to talk to Gai (when he wasn't ranting that was) since he'd been a sensei for just over a year. Last night, however, Kakashi had mentioned that he'd met two intriguing ninja who'd just joined the village. Usually she wouldn't have given them much thought, but they'd seemed to impress Kakashi, which was something that Kurenai had rarely seen. What most intrigued her, though, was the woman whom Kakashi mentioned was a genjutsu user. There were very few genjutsu users in Konoha and the idea of meeting another excited her. When she had noticed the pair walking towards her, she couldn't help herding Hinata to the side and testing the silver haired woman.

'_Though Kakashi did say that her specialty was in taijutsu. For her to be this skilled in genjutsu as well is amazing.'_ She looked from the woman to the red haired man and the young genin beside them. _'Ahh,'_ she thought, _'I'm glad to see that they're treating Naruto well, he could probably use the support. I'll make sure to mention it to Kakashi the next time I see him.'_

"A genjutsu specialist I take it?" the woman asked, interrupting Kurenai's thoughts.

Kurenai nodded. "Kakashi mentioned you two to a few of us last night, so I've been keeping an eye out for you two, though I didn't expect to meet you so soon. I was interested in meeting a fellow genjutsu master," she admitted.

"I'm not sure I'd call myself a master…" Naomi objected.

Kurenai smiled. "From what Kakashi has said, you aren't giving yourself enough credit."

Naomi gave her a sad, almost wistful, look. "I suppose you would know."

"What do you mean?" Kurenai asked, somewhat confused.

"Nothing," she said quietly. She cocked her head to the side, "And who might this be?" she asked, changing the subject.

Kurenai looked behind herself, seeing that Hinata had not yet moved out of her hiding place. At this question, the younger girl poked her head out to the side.

"Hey Hinata-chan!" Naruto greeted loudly.

"Eep!" Hinata squealed, ducking her head back behind her teacher. "H-Hi, Naruto-kun," she said quietly.

'_Oh right, I'd forgotten about that,'_ Kurenai thought with amusement. "This is Hyuga Hinata," she told them, stepping to the side so that Hinata was in view. "We just finished training for the day and I was taking her with me to the shopping district."

Naomi started when she saw Hinata, disturbance flickering across the woman's features.

"I'm s-sorry," Hinata said sullenly, bowing her head, "it's the e-eyes; most people think they look c-creepy."

To her credit, Naomi recovered quickly. Before Kurenai could reassure her student, Naomi simply knelt down and rested a hand on the girl's shoulder. "It is I who needs to apologize, Hinata-san," she said in a comforting tone, causing Hinata to look up in surprise. "There is nothing wrong with your eyes and you should never let anyone tell you otherwise." She seemed to hesitate for a moment before forging onward, "I've befriended some of your clanmates in my time, and seeing a pair of Byakugan simply…reminded me of the friends I'd lost. It is nothing you are at fault for. I am sorry for making you feel otherwise."

Hinata pushed her fingers together and nodded. "It's okay," she said quietly, accepting the apology. "Thank you," she added.

Naomi smiled at the girl and stood again, turning to face Kurenai. "You've met members of the Hyuga clan?" Kurenai asked, a bit nonplussed.

"More than you might think," Naomi responded, looking away from her.

'_Full of surprises indeed,'_ she mused,_ 'I wonder how a traveling shinobi without a village managed to befriend members of the Hyuga clan.'_

"So," said Sora, speaking for the first time, "I understand that you wanted to meet with Naomi, but was there anything else you wanted from us?"

Kurenai shook her head. "Not in particular," she said, "though I will extend the same offer as Kakashi regarding meeting my students." She focused on Naomi, "You managed to make an impression on that idiot, and you seem interesting for some reason." Then she smiled, "Especially for genin."

Sora chuckled, "We aren't going to hear the end of that until we're promoted will we?"

Kurenai laughed in response, "Probably not."

She looked down to her side to see Hinata watching the pair intently.

"So you're from the Uzumaki clan?" Hinata asked the couple with curiosity. "I didn't know there were any in the village other than Naruto-kun…" Though her voice was still quiet, Kurenai was sure she heard an inkling of disapproval in her tone.

'_It's not much of a surprise she'd be a little upset; I wonder if she's even realized how protective she is of that boy yet.'_

"There weren't until just recently," Kurenai clarified. "They arrived less than two weeks ago to join the village; I'm not surprised you hadn't heard yet."

"Oh," Hinata murmured, shrinking in on herself. Kurenai guessed that she felt guilty for judging them so quickly.

"Aren't they cool? I just met them yesterday!" Naruto exclaimed, drawing everyone's attention. "You've got to see them Hinata-chan, they're amazing! Naomi-neesan showed that bastard Sasuke when she beat him yesterday!"

Naomi looked down slyly at him. "You do know I could beat you just as easily, right?" she asked, a bit of exasperation in her voice.

"I'd still last longer than Sasuke, though!" he declared, laughing confidently. "I've got an idea. We should all train together, it'd be great! What do you think Hinata-chan?"

Hinata started to redden at the sudden question. "I t-think that's a wonderful idea, N-Naruto-kun," she said, stuttering slightly. She looked up towards Kurenai, obviously nervous, "As long as Kurenai-sensei says it's o-okay."

"I suppose it can't hurt," Kurenai answered Hinata. "I was considering having you three train with Team 10 soon anyway. I'll speak with Kakashi about it." she turned her attention to Sora and Naomi, who both clearly found the situation to be very entertaining. "Seeing as how Kakashi and I have both offered you an invitation, you two would be free to come if you wish. If we actually end up going through with this idea, I'm sure Naruto will be happy to tell you when and where to meet us."

"Right!" Naruto affirmed.

Naomi smiled, "I'm sure we can find the time if we're in the village."

Kurenai looked at the two children. Naruto was grinning hugely, while Hinata looked as if she was mortified that he was even speaking to her. _'So different…what she sees in that boy, I'll never know. Konoha will be a hole in the ground before she'd ever admit it to him though. God knows he's too dense to notice it himself.'_

She shook her head, returning her attention to the conversation at hand. "We have to leave soon, but I should probably warn you: As I said before, Kakashi mentioned you to a few of us instructors. I wouldn't be surprised if you ran into Asuma. If nothing else, he'll probably looking for you just because he wants something to do, but the one you really need to watch out for is—" she was cut off as a flash of movement caught her eye: a green blur that streaked towards Sora's back.

In the fraction of a second before the impact, the first thought that flashed through Kurenai's mind was that the blur was moving much faster than it usually did. There was no way the red haired man would be able to react in time to dodge, even if he had noticed the attack.

"DYNAMIC ENTRY!" Gai's loud voice bellowed.

Just before Sora was hit, though, something happened. Somehow the man was simply out of Gai's path in the blink of an eye. Gai continued forward, impacting the ground and creating a small crater where Sora had once been standing. There was a short moment of silence, a slight breeze in the air. _'What did he just do?'_ Kurenai thought dumbfounded.

"Hah! Impressive! You must be overflowing with youth to have dodged my magnificent attack! I have been searching for you: Sora-san, Naomi-san!" Gai said loudly.

"Uh…what?" Sora asked, confusion evident on his face.

"The one you really need to watch out for is Gai," Kurenai finished with a sigh.

"Greetings," Gai said, ignoring her warning, "My name is Maito Gai, Konoha's Sublime Green Beast of Prey!" He gave a thumbs up, beaming at them.

"I think he's wondering why you attacked him, Gai, not who you are," Kurenai said with irritation.

"Ahh, Kurenai! You found them before me? I must do ten thousand pushups to make up for this loss!"

"What are you talking about? This isn't a contest!" Kurenai said in frustration. _'What an Idiot!'_

"Of course it's not!" Gai proclaimed, "But if I had better fanned my flames of youth I would have found them much earlier than now!"

There was another moment of silence before Naomi spoke up. "Err…why were you looking for us?"

"Ahh, yes!" Gai said with a laugh. "You have gained the respect of my eternal rival Kakashi. You have even helped to train his students. I must not fall behind him. Therefore, I must pit the flames of my youth against yours!"

Naomi hesitated, "That makes…no sense at all."

"Gai!" Kurenai snapped, "What the hell is wrong with you?! Can't you at least try to be polite?!"

"It's fine, Kurenai-san," Sora said with a grin. "He wants a fight right? It's been awhile since I've had a chance to spar with someone, so I don't mind."

"If you are sure," she said, relenting.

"Perfect!" Gai exclaimed happily, "You are truly within your springtime of youth! Let us do battle in the park down the road," he said, pointing towards the end of the street.

Gai ran towards the park without another word, Sora walking leisurely behind him.

"Wait!" Naruto yelled, running after them, "I want to watch!"

Kurenai looked towards Naomi with a sigh, "I apologize for Gai's…eccentricities. Are you sure it's okay?"

"It's fine," the woman assured her, "He was telling the truth when he said he didn't mind. Honestly, I think he'll enjoy the chance to practice."

"If you say so," Kurenai replied. "Still, the way he moved out of Gai's attack…what was that?"

Naomi grinned at her. "It's hard to explain. I know you and Hinata-san were about to leave, but if you have the time, I'm sure you'd find this fight interesting."

Kurenai looked to the girl beside her. "Hinata?" she asked, "do you want to watch?"

Hinata started, having been watching Naruto so closely that she hadn't expected the question. She glanced up at Kurenai, then back towards the young boy. "I don't mind going, Kurenai-sensei," she said quietly.

Kurenai nodded to Naomi. "Well then, let's go see what your husband can do."

* * *

As Kurenai and the others arrived, they decided to stand off to the side, next to where Naruto was. She noticed that the match had still yet to begin. Sora was simply standing a short distance away from Gai, watching as he did one-handed pushups.

"I figured you three would want to watch," Sora remarked casually to the girls. "Are you ready?" he asked, turning to face Gai.

"Of course!"

"Before we begin, I should warn you: If you don't take off those weights of yours, I'm not sure you'll be able to keep up."

Gai gave a hearty laugh. "So you noticed those? Thank you, but I must decline. I only allow myself to remove these weights during missions or when I must protect something important. If I am unable to match your speed, it only means I must train harder!"

Sora smiled slightly, inclining his head. "As you wish."

Kurenai looked to Naomi. "I don't mean to be rude, but does Sora-san know what he's gotten into? Even with his weights on Gai is one of the fastest ninja within our village."

To her surprise, Naomi just shook her head. "He's not boasting, I doubt Gai will be able to keep pace with him too."

"Really now?" she asked, though she was still skeptical.

A breeze began to blow through the park. "Let's see if you can outrun the wind," Sora challenged.

The breeze picked up, and Sora rocketed towards Gai at an incredible speed. Though the attack was sudden, Gai smoothly shifted his stance to counter the man's attack. Just as Sora came within striking distance, Kurenai noticed the same strange movement as before. Without even sidestepping, Sora flickered to Gai's right and brought around his leg in a roundhouse kick that swiftly thundered towards his opponent. Gai was caught off guard and was barely able to move his arms in time to block. Still, the kick connected and sent Gai rocketing into a nearby tree.

"What?" was all Kurenai could say at the sight.

Naomi shrugged. "Sora did warn him."

Gai recovered, shooting back towards Sora. "Leaf Whirlwind!" Gai shouted. Sora blocked the attack, but before Gai could follow-up, Sora shifted to Gai's side again, hitting him with another kick, though Gai was able to keep from being thrown back this time.

"How is he doing this?" Kurenai asked in astonishment.

"You should have felt it by now," Naomi commented.

Kurenai frowned for a second, thinking. Then her eyes widened once she noticed what was happening. "The wind…"she said quietly. "It's acting oddly."

Naomi nodded. "The breezes you notice are the after effects of the technique he's using. Sora uses wind to augment his movements. He constantly generates a tailwind which pushes against his body, increasing his overall speed. He also uses the wind to speed up his arms and legs when he's attacking, which is why his attack speed is so quick." She paused, watching as Sora landed a combo of punches.

"In addition," Naomi added, "he can use the technique in short bursts to move at a very high speed for a fraction of a second. When he shifts to the side without having to take a step, it's because he's using a gust of wind to maneuver himself, though the bursts are too tiring for him to constantly use them. He calls the technique 'Wind Walking.' Sora and Gai might be about even in their regular movement speeds right now, but with his weights on, Gai has no chance of keeping up with Sora's wind bursts or his attack speed."

During the explanation, the battle continued to rage on, with Sora still being able to dodge the majority of Gai's attacks. During a brief lull in the fight, Kurenai responded. "I've never even heard of something like that before. Not with the wind element at least." She turned her gaze on the woman "Still, should you even trust me enough to explain his technique in such detail? We've only just met."

Unexpectedly, the woman smiled slightly. "Perhaps not, but something tells me that you're trustworthy. Besides, it's not as if Wind Walking is the only trick up his sleeve."

Kurenai nodded, noticing Sora dodge another attack with a burst of wind and produce a pair of knives. "I just can't believe it. I've never seen anyone with that much control over an element before."

"He's one of a kind. I, myself, barely have half as much control over fire that he has over wind."

Kurenai raised an eyebrow. "So you have a fire affinity? For you to counter your husband's wind…fate has a sense of humor it seems."

Naomi chuckled, "I've always found that belief to be incorrect," she said. After a puzzled look from Kurenai, Naomi continued, "It's odd. Wind dissipates lightning, lightning obliterates earth, earth impedes water, and water extinguishes fire...but fire? Fire does not fight against the wind; it is simply made stronger by it. Much in the same way that my Sora strengthens me."

"I never thought of it that way," Kurenai told her with a smile.

Her attention was brought back to the fight with a crackle of lightning. "Raiton: Thunder Slash!" Sora cried. Two large arcs of lightning generated by his daggers streaked through the air towards Gai. Gai was able to dodge the attack and close in on Sora, "Leaf Strong Whirlwind!" he yelled. The attack connected, managing to throw Sora backwards. Before he went too far, however, he suddenly decelerated, thanks to his bursts of wind, only a few yards away from Gai.

"You are very skilled!" Gai complimented his opponent. "I can see how my eternal rival was inspired by your youth!"

Sora let out a laugh, grinning in excitement. "You're, uh, very youthful too, Gai-san. I haven't had this much fun in a while," He said. "Actually, how about we start taking this a bit more seriously?" Sora sheathed his right dagger and raised his hand, chakra beginning to gather in his palm.

"Sora!" Naomi interrupted, causing him to freeze. "What do you think you're doing?" She asked as she walked over to him.

The man's hand dropped, his technique fading away. "Getting to the good part?" He asked sheepishly.

"Perhaps," Naomi said exasperatedly, "we should try to avoid destroying this park or maiming each other for today?"

'_An attack that she was worried about being used on Gai? Considering how strong his normal attacks were, whatever that technique was must have been powerful,'_ Kurenai thought, now even more curious about the man's abilities than she'd been during his fight.

"Sorry," he apologized, seeming to notice the destruction the fight had begun to cause for the first time, "I guess I started to get carried away."

Naomi sighed. "I think you two are done for the day. If you start fighting seriously, you'll destroy buildings."

"You make a good point, Naomi-san! Do not worry Sora-san; I'm certain that your next technique would have burned with the flames of youth had we not been forced to stop!" Gai said. "I am sorry, but now that our match has concluded I shall take my leave. I must do ten thousand pushups to make up for my loss against Kurenai."

"Gai! How many times must I tell you that THIS. IS. NOT. A. CONTEST!" Kurenai shouted in frustration.

"You must come meet my students as well at some point." Gai continued, ignoring the outburst, "I refuse to be beaten by Kakashi!"

"Um, alright…" Sora said, appeasing the man.

"Thank you for the match, Sora-san." He turned to regard Naomi, "I look forward to testing the fires of my youth against yours another day, Naomi-san!" Gai flashed a final thumbs up and leapt away.

After Gai's departure, there silence for a few seconds before it was broken by a loud Naruto. "That was so cool!" he said, speaking for the first time since the fight had begun. For her part, Hinata had spent the entirety of the match standing a few meters behind the boy, staring at him every few moments before quickly looking away again.

"Hinata!" Naruto exclaimed, shocking the girl. "Isn't Sora-niisan amazing? I've never seen anyone fight like that before!"

"Y-yes!" she replied hurriedly, "He's really strong."

"Too bad he's not strong enough to stop himself from burning forests down," Naomi interjected, rolling her eyes.

"Hey, that's not fair! I only did that once!" Sora complained.

Kurenai just shook her head. _'For some reason, when that man says things like that, he reminds me of Naruto. I suppose some of that childishness just runs in the family. At least he's not as bad as Gai; God knows we wouldn't survive another villager like him and that protégé of his.'_

Kurenai continued to watch the couple bicker playfully for another minute. Once they settled down, Naomi looked at her. "I suppose we should part ways now, it's starting to get a bit late."

"You're probably right," she agreed. "Are you ready to go Hinata? If we hurry, we may still be able to get to the market before the shops start to close."

"I'm ready, Kurenai-sensei," Hinata said.

"I've got to go too," Naruto added, somewhat regretfully, "I have to meet Iruka-sensei at Ichiraku's." He started to run off, but stopped and turned around. "I'll see you soon, Sora-niisan, Naomi-neesan. Oh, and bye Hinata-chan, see you soon too!"

"Bye, N-Naruto-kun." Hinata said quietly, while Sora and Naomi gave him a wave of farewell.

Kurenai turned to the couple and nodded. "Keep my offer in mind. I hope we meet again soon."

"I'm sure we will," Naomi replied with a smile. "And I look forward to it."

As Kurenai turned to walk away, her student at her side, she couldn't help but think that she had just made two very interesting friends.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

I give you my fourth chapter!

First off, I want to wish everyone a great 2014 and hope you all had fun during your New Year's festivities. I was a bit busy over the past few weeks, but I've got more free time now, so hopefully I should be able to update this story a bit more quickly.

As always, enjoy the story and feel free to review, comment, message, etc. with what you think!


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